Seasons appear askew and out of sorts

THERE’S an old saying about people whose word is dodgy — that they’d promise you blackberries for Christmas.

However, with unseasonal plant growth and a climate that has become ever more unpredictable, the idea of blackberries growing in December might no longer seem farfetched.

After all, daffodils were being picked in some parts of Ireland, on December 31. I had good daffodils shoots up in the festive season and rhubarb had sprung up in the vegetable patch. The lawn is, at present, well due to be mown, but it can’t be touched because the ground is still saturated.

February 1, traditionally the first day of spring, is just a week away, but just look around and you’ll see signs that spring is already here. Robin Triggs, from Saleen, in east Cork, tells us he has a number of arum lilies growing in his garden and, last week, noticed a flower making an attempt to ‘break out’ of its plant.

“Is this a record early date for this part of the world?’’ he asks. “After moving to Cork from the west of Ireland some years ago, we had lilies flowering on St Patrick’s Day. When we lived in the west of Ireland, it was always around mid to late May. Wonder if other people are having similar experiences?”

Most believe such phenomena are due to climate change, but you’ll still find a few sceptics who disagree, pointing out that our weather is highly variable in any case. In late 2015, for instance, temperatures of 12C were recorded, but we’ve also had sub-zero temperatures, not to mention flooding and storms.

However, there are irrefutable signs that the climate is changing, according to the EPA. Six of the 10 warmest winters in Ireland have occurred since 1990; there’s been a marked reduction in frost days; rainfall has increased in western and northern counties and the growth season is beginning at least a week earlier than in the 1970s.

In the Botanic Gardens, Dublin, plants are putting out their leaves two weeks earlier than 40 years ago and there’s also plenty of evidence growth is starting much earlier.

Wildlife is also being thrown out of kilter. We’re seeing more exotic birds and fish from warmer climes, while some of our migratory birds now move south much later than formerly. Nature is being fooled by climate change.

Some people like to record hearing the first song of the thrush, or see the first frogspawn. Like the early bird, however, they have to be on the lookout a lot sooner these days, as spring-time continues to be transformed.

Spawning is seen as one of the most responsive events to climate change. Frogs normally breed in March, but the Wildlife Trust had reports in recent years of spawn sightings in mild weather, in February.