benign overtones of meaning. So global heating is what we should call it. Someone told
me this a few days ago, and I thought it was very sensible.
In late December, just before Christmas, the Met Office announced that 2006 had been
the warmest (no, hottest) year ever. We are getting hotter, drier summers, and milder,
wetter winters, with more storms all over the place. Well, we never noticed, did we? But
the week before Christmas we had foggy mornings, often slow to clear, and frost at
night, with very cold, grey days. All those brave plants and fungi that had enjoyed a
second spring gave up all of a sudden, but not for long.
January 18th was a momentous day with gales over much of western and southern Britain,
and it was pretty breezy here too, but we missed the flooding some got elsewhere. The
QE2 bridge over the Thames was closed for most of the day, and the M25 was closed
both ways between J29-30, due to 3 different incidents involving container lorries being
blown over, and one at least landed on another vehicle. Local roads were full of traffic,
but also a number of fallen trees. These freak conditions are more of the dark side of
global heating, they tell us.
Near my home was a Crack Willow, thought to be the tallest in Essex (see issue number
43, Jan 2004), but most of it was lying on the ground on the 19th. A very twisted root
plate indicated that the tree had twisted as it fell, and came to rest facing into the wind.
I suppose a huge gust had blown it north-eastwards, and it sprang back so it actually fell
towards the south-west. How are the mighty fallen! (see plate 3, but it was hard to get
the whole thing in at once, so the twiggy tops at the right hand side are missing) Actually,
most of it will make green shoots soon, as part of the root system is still in the ground
and is joined to the main trunk, but some branches that have broken off may die. I think
some of these old willows are death-resistant. And we were pleased to meet one of the
estate workers who assured us that most of the tree would be left in place, whether dead
or alive, because of its value to wildlife.
January 24th was another momentous day, when all Essex woke up to a soft white blanket
of snow. Young children going to school were having a wonderful time, though the snow
was only about 2cm deep here. By teatime it had all gone here, but there was much more
in the north of the county.
In spite of this cold spell near the end of the month, the last few days of January became
very mild with lots of sunshine. On February 1st, the garden thermometer showed 15°C,
almost like May. Flowers are coming out in gardens and my little Glabrous Whitlowgrass
is out again. Hazel has had catkins open for a couple of weeks already. In my garden the
same Iris referred to earlier has been in full flower since early December, but now it has
been joined by Winter Aconite, Snowdrops and the little Early Crocus (Crocus
tommasinianus). By a nearby lake, a grassy area grazed mainly by Canada Geese was
covered with daisies in flower as if it was May.
6
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 53, May 2007