Seasonal anomalies are blooming strange

IT’S been a funny old year.

A long and cold winter transformed into a warm, calm and sunny April. Now, in May, we seem to be getting April weather — showery, blustery and rather cool.

That long period of warm weather in April seems to have speeded up many seasonal changes associated with spring. Trees, shrubs and wild flowers in the countryside around me have bloomed a week to ten days earlier than usual this year.