Our first swallows arrived yesterday and are already flying through the barn looking for their nest sites :)
Also heard the cuckoo for the first time about 3 weeks ago.
Spring has sprung and all that ;)
First swallows
Hooray!
LOL ;o)
I 've heard the swallows yesterday for the first time...summer is here...today we had 30C...first tropical day of this year...earliest tropical day ever measured overhere !
......and there was I thinking the weather was because we are in the south of France ;)
I've since seen swifts, Hoopoe, the bats are flying, Swallowtail butterflies.
Hope you're enjoying the wonderful weather saya!
I hear from Weezingreens on another thread that it's much warmer than normal where she is in Alaska - but not this warm
Baa
May 16, 2005
I've just recalled a little ditty as told to me by a Hampshire farmer
Cuckoo comes in April
Sings his song in May
Plays his tune
Til the middle of June
And then he flies away.
French cuckoos must be up and about earlier ;) Haven't seen any swallows this year even at this late stage.
I suppose we're that much closer to Africa down here??
Sorry you haven't seen swallows yet. The swifts are screaming around down here now.
People staying have said they find it hard to believe how far forward the plants are compared with in the UK
I saw my first wild boar today - unfortunatey road kill :(
Pfff..weather goes flipp flapp overhere.. they say it is still to cold for the time of the year and we 're still having nightfrosts.. But that is 'nt so uncommon because the Namedays of our so called Ice Saints : St. Mamertus, St. Pankratius, St. Servatius and St. Bonifacius are nearly left behind. The Namedays of these Saints are the most known and oldest conception in peoples weatherforcast overhere..I don 't know if it is used in more European countries..This concept is still very common overhere...anything frosttender should be sown or planted out after the Namedays of these Saints.. In former times, around 1000, the last nameday has been on may 22..instead of may 11, 12, 13 en 14 nowadays ..
Yes in France nature is far forward...it 's always amazing to see when I travel from my place (more north) to Paris during Eastern holidays..the more south I come the more flowers I see already in bloom. The curious thing is that I find the temperature not so much warmer..Paris is only a 6 hours driving away from my place.
Very interesting about the saints' days saya :)
The same applies here - our last frost dates being the same as yours
In Kent it was about the end of May. We used to sow runner beans on my father-in-law's b'day on May 12th - the seeds were safe underground. By the time they broke the surface of the soil the theory was that they would be safe from the frosts.
I'm actually about 8 hours south of Paris - so much warmer :oD
It's been like July here today - a wonderful view of the Pyrenees with their snowy tops, but blue blue sky and SO hot! It was 24C at 8pm last evening and must still be that warm tonight. Even hotter in the daytime of course.
Good luck with your plantings :)
No pictures. ;-)
John
:P
Will try and get my camera out later - though it's raining and cloudy this morning, but still warm :)
Saw the first swallow in the UK (East Midands) on 18 April
That's great jaybear :)
Heard a cuckoo this morning, from my bedroom window. Great to hear a cuckoo in a town! Have to say though that I'm on the outskirts of the town. Summer's here!
Wonderful Diane
I was out with wildlifers recently and we heard a cuckoo that had changed its tune - I'll start a new thread to ask if anyone can remember the verse about that.......