Early bud burst

MM by all means butt in to this "bud love in" or "budfest" (whichever you prefer) welcome.:D

You are right its a Cotoneaster simonsii, also a devil to control, its all over the cong area and by the lake probably spred so widely by the birds.

Saw a white and pink cherry in full flower in Castlebar yday, but am still waiting for the flowers of my bird cherry and plena to appear.

A few more bud bursts:

I do now ;)

Holy holly bill

noticed holly budbursting today

yes there has been a serious slowdown, but I had thought it is more related to decrease in light rather than decrease in warmth.

Bill, links have been known and shown between budburst and light periods as well as temp:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/k81g517666550562/

The ecological significance of phenology in four different tree species: effects of light and temperature on bud burst
Amelia Caffarra & Alison Donnelly Department of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin

this is the summary here to give a flavor:

Summary

The aim of this study was to compare budburst responses of different tree species under different environmental conditions, and to consider their ecological significance. Our results suggest that phenology is regulated by a complex interplay of factors whose effects are related to the life strategy and distribution of each species. In addition, environmental cues can have different effects in different species, depending on their interaction and duration. Dominant, long-lived species such as T. cordata and F. sylvatica showed lower rates of budburst (longer times to budburst), high chilling requirements and responsiveness to light intensity, while opportunistic, pioneer species such as B. pubescens and S. x smithiana had high rates of budburst (shorter times to budburst), low chilling requirements and were not affected by light intensity. In addition, budburst in B. pubescens and S. x smithiana was more responsive to high forcing temperatures than in T. cordata and F. sylvatica. It appeared evident that while in all species studied dormancy release was controlled by both photoperiod and chilling, the degree to which the two triggers contributed to the progress of dormancy varied among species. In particular, while in F. sylvatica and T. cordata short photoperiod was used as a signal to prevent growth until a moderate-large chilling exposure had been fulfilled, in B. pubescens short photoperiod did not prevent growth even after 30–40 days of chilling. On the other hand, in S. x smithiana the effect of photoperiod was more limited. These results suggest that the timing of growth onset in B. pubescens and S. x smithiana was regulated through a less conservative mechanism than in T. cordata and F. sylvatica, and that these species trade a higher risk of frost damage for the opportunity of vigorous growth at the beginning of spring, when more light is available. Nonetheless, the use of one-node cuttings and newly rooted cuttings (B. pubescens and T. cordata) as opposed to whole trees suggests that these results should be interpreted with caution. Whereas rooted cuttings and trees grown from seeds show a similar phenology and growth rate in a number of tree species (Ritchie et al. 1992; Sasse and Sands 1996; Jurásek 2007), one-node cuttings might show shorter times to budburst compared to whole trees due to the lack of correlative inhibition (Chao et al. 2007). In addition, as these experiments used one specific tree clone for each species, intra-specific variability in phenology was not considered, so the present findings need further validation before they can be generalised. Thus, more studies evaluating different species and genotypes are needed. A more precise picture of the evolutionary drivers of phenology is important to assess potential responses of vegetation to climate change.

Ash before the oak we are in for a soak!!!

And it looks as if the oak and beech are thinking of joining us in the next day or two.