May Day blossoms! Swifts return! First day of Summer (Term)

April 18, 2007 at 12:49 pm | In Ancient Celts, Birds, Celtic traditions, Climate change, England, Environment, May Day, Photography, Spring, Summer, Trees, Windsor | 3 Comments

Back to school with short trousers and sleeves today for us, but only after we heard on local radio that the Ancient Celts would have declared this the first day of summer. Why? They studied nature, and recent signs in South East England—hawthorn blossoming and swifts returning from Africa—would have been indicative of the season. Being a Celt, but only medieval myself (as the boys reassure me: I am only in my Middle Ages), I was interested in the radio sound bite, but also feel that the idea of fast forwarding by a season is an overly extreme description of where we are in our nature calendar. May Day was when hawthorn (aka May, its country nickname) was used in ceremonies, as its traditional time for blossoming was when maypole dancing was popular and spring was in the air—but that simply meant the start of spring, not summer, I believe.

As usual at the start and end of school terms, I took a few photos on our walk home from school today. Then I searched unsuccessfully for a photo of hawthorn in the Brecon Beacons (I am sure I took one there on “a yomp through the woods”, as Sarah calls it) but instead, by coincidence, I found photos from two years ago when the boys and I spent a week in England. This is what I found, and wise eler brother says I should post these for all to see (click images for larger technicolour versions) and reflect upon:

18 April 2007

Tree with pink blossom in Alexandra Gardens Windsor on 18 April 2007

01 May 2005
(yes, May Day itself, almost two years ago, showing half of the same tree)

Tree with pink blossom in Alexandra Gardens Windsor on 1 May 2005

P.S. After writing this post, I found this article on BBC News:

‘Spring is new summer’ – report

and I still view that as an overly alarmist statement. I would simply say spring has arrived two or three weeks early this year: that’s nowhere near the same idea as an entire shift of season. Though I must admit that the pink ornamental cherry (if that’s what it is) has blossomed almost before its leaves have finished unfurling. That’s a bit odd, isn’t it?

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  1. well some things are early .. the first asparagus spikes were up in the first week of April .. and with the warm weather have been throwing them up ( the technical term for growing shoots of asparagus!) in profusion now !!!!

    Comment by Sarah — April 19, 2007 #

  2. Hi inel,

    We’ve been discussing this on the weather forum I frequent. If you look at the Central England Temperature monthly means, this year’s figures fall quite neatly about mid-way between the current month and the following month (e.g.: March’s mean was mid way between the long-term averages for March and April). It would not be too controversial to suggest that, in terms of climate, we have ‘lost’ the coldest two weeks of the year over the last thirty years or so, by which I mean that the January-February ‘cold phase’, which is linked to the solstice and lags it by about six weeks, is no longer a dominant feature. The odds are starting to look quite good that the UK will record it’s highest ever CET in 2007, as forecast by the Hadley Centre in January.
    Regards,

    Comment by fergusbrown — April 19, 2007 #

  3. Hi fergus,

    Did you see the Met Office press release last week? I link to it here and they have an update to the long-term outlook here.

    Comment by inel — May 1, 2007 #


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