As I was walking the dogs this afternoon, I was spending quite a bit of time looking up.
Specifically I was looking in the canopies of Ash and Oak trees to see which was further ahead in leaf. The Oaks are clearly ahead which if you believe in folklore, means a dry summer.
Also lots of hoverflies in the canopy, as well as butterflies about too.
There’s an old saying that goes something like:
“If the Oak before the ash, then we’ll only have a splash, if the ash before the Oak then we’ll surely have a soak”
This refers to the the amount of rainfall we’re going to get in the following summer, based on which species comes into leaf first in the spring.
Whilst there isn’t any scientific evidence to support this statement, I did notice this morning that the Oak trees around me are definitely ahead, and buds have already burst, whereas on the Ash trees there’s not sign of any buds bursting yet.
I won’t however be packing up my raincoat for the summer just yet. This week has been one of typical April showers, what I’d would expect for the time of the year. Flipping from bright sunshine one moment, to torrential rain the next (we even had a hail shower on Tuesday).
If only the weather was as easy to predict as a centuries old rhyme.
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