Not so green Ireland!

Su Campu

Has anyone else noticed how yellow the landscape has become in the last week or so? I hadn't until I flew to Sligo yesterday, and from the air it seemed like I was in Spain in August. Prolonged frost, followed by rapid drying recently have taken their toll. Soil moisture defecits are running above normal throughout the country.

Compare yesterday to 1 month ago.

Yesterday










February

gally74

yep, drove across the country last weekend and its brown, brown, brown,

should be really good growth when its get going thou, i see artic sea ice has made a comeback too,

thetonynator

even february wasnt exactly green, its been very yellow/brown here since the snow melted in january . . .

Oscar Bravo

Lovely shots there Su.nice machine your flying piper? i hope you checked out Ushers new hanger in sligo!!

Deep Easterly

Fields are still green enough around here, although lacking their usual lustre. Ultra browness seems to be reserved for the grass on the side of the roads, probably due to dust and fumes accumulating on them over the course of time.

Shulgin

Yeah, the grass here is all burnt from the cold. I don`t ever remember fields looking like this in march. It was some cold winter in fairness.

Danno

A few links and photos here... http://www.irelandsweather.com/forum/general-weather-discussion/(s)green(s)-brown-ireland/

Su Campu

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

Lovely shots there Su.nice machine your flying piper? i hope you checked out Ushers new hanger in sligo!!

It's Robin EI-SKS

Didn't hang around for long, refuelled and had a cup of tea and went back up. Didn't notice the hangar, I'll have a look the next time!

thetonynator

im living near mt. juliet golf course, and the course is actually brown, no trace of green except on the tees and greens. its much worse than most of the fields around . . .

I'll try get a pic some day . . .

445279.ie

Left work early today and when passing Adare Golf Club noticed how brown the grass was as well. Strange to see here alright

Sierra Oscar

I have noticed this all around North Tipperary also . . . haven't seen our lawn so brown in a long time.

ninebeanrows

Took notice of that yesterday after seeing the thread. The grass is brown off green no signs of life in it.

The frost burn is bad enough combined with the lack of growth due to the low soil temps but anywhere that there was 2 weeks of more than a couple of inches of snow cover actually smothered the grass and shrivelled it up.

It is actually the worst I've ever seen [bar the 95 summer drought] and will take a long time to recover.

Deep Easterly

Deleted User wrote: »

It is actually the worst I've ever seen [bar the 95 summer drought] and will take a long time to recover.

Was listening to a conversation yesterday afternoon with 2 men from the countryside claiming it is the worst they have ever seen also, and also reckon it will take a very long time for the grass to recover. In fact, one of them reckons that if the soil temps don't recover sufficiently in the next few weeks, that there could be permanent damage done.

I have my doubts about this, but is it possible?

thetonynator

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Was listening to a conversation yesterday afternoon with 2 men from the countryside claiming it is the worst they have ever seen also, and also reckon it will take a very long time for the grass to recover. In fact, one of them reckons that if the soil temps don't recover sufficiently in the next few weeks, that there could be permanent damage done.

I have my doubts about this, but is it possible?

well i don't know if its true, but if it is every farmer in the country is rightly fúcked, very little feed left for animals anywhere at the moment, if growth doesnt start in the next 2-3 weeks there'll be a lot of people in serious trouble . . .

nilhg

thetonynator wrote: »

well i don't know if its true, but if it is every farmer in the country is rightly fúcked, very little feed left for animals anywhere at the moment, if growth doesnt start in the next 2-3 weeks there'll be a lot of people in serious trouble . . .

A neighbour of mine is one of the teagasc sheep monitor farms in Kildare, part of the scheme is monthly measuring of grass covers, his advisor was out during the week and found a decrease of 25% in the grass available compared to the Feb figure, despite fertiliser (urea) having been applied and all the stock still being indoors.

To be fair though while it does look serious now this is the time of year nobody expects massive growth as long as we don't get a repeat dose in April/May farmers should be OK.

Strange when you think about, we've had satellite views of Ireland green, (mostly) white and now brown, with a little more frost we might have got close to the national colours...........

DougL

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Was listening to a conversation yesterday afternoon with 2 men from the countryside claiming it is the worst they have ever seen also, and also reckon it will take a very long time for the grass to recover. In fact, one of them reckons that if the soil temps don't recover sufficiently in the next few weeks, that there could be permanent damage done.

I have my doubts about this, but is it possible?

Where I am from, the grass turns brown every year, and it comes back just fine as soon as the ground heats up. I was really suprised when I moved here in the middle of February 13 years ago and saw green grass in the middle of winter.

Judging by my back garden, I'd say the new growth is only a couple of weeks behind, but it seems worse since the dormant grass has been "freezer burned". I still have very damp patches in my garden, so I don't think it's lack of soil moisture.

Mothman

Deep Easterly wrote: »

that there could be permanent damage done.

I have my doubts about this, but is it possible?

I'm sure in high yielding pastures that there will be permanent damage. The sward has been killed by the snow and frost. You need grass to grow grass.....meaning the more grass (up to a point) the more growth you will get because the green grass soaks up the sun and this creates more. This green is gone, the sward is opening up and this allows weeds (broadleaf and weed low yielding grasses) to get a foothold while the burned off sward pushes up new shoots from its reserves. This is not even starting yet because soil temps are below 6C. When growth does start, fields will green up quick enough but the sward will be thin and it'll take quite a while for it to thicken up.

It's being a very long and feed expensive winter for many

Pa ElGrande

I was Boston recently, the grass there is brown and that's normal in that region. Coming back to my own garden in Dublin city centre this week, there is no grass growth save in a few sheltered spots, a month of dry weather and frosts has turned the grass yellow. Normally I would have at least one lawn cut in by now. The first daffodils have not even opened yet, and in the past few years they have typically started opening from mid February. It looks like growth is about 4 weeks behind.

Not

All the grass fields as far as the eye can see around here in Meath are after going yellow :eek:

Rookster

I have some evergreen plants and shrubs in my garden and the leaves just fell off around the christmas period. This is the first time I have seen this. Will they regrow?

Saw a couple of grass fires last weekend, first time ever in March!

airvan

Took this shot with my phone while climbing to 10k overhead Knocknaree in Sligo a couple of weeks ago. Everywhere looks brown at the moment. It's particularly obvious when you're flying overhead. Never seen it that bad before. It doesn't look like Ireland the 'Emerald isle' anymore. Add snow capped hills and the effect is unusual.

Mothman

Grass was fairly green here till the past week. The long series of deep frosts this month (7 nights with sub -9C grass temperature) has made its mark and most of the green is gone

nacho libre

The grass here is starting to to lose its yellow colour.

force eleven

My garden grass is dead. Brown,withered, yellow in big patches, but the growth is there, dormant, just under the surface. Never seen it like this,even in the driest summer. But it will come back quickly with mild wet weather. In a few weeks time, should be green green green

force eleven

Deleted User wrote: »

Saw a couple of grass fires last weekend, first time ever in March!

A few round here too, tis tinder dry out there. Hard to believe the floods and misery of November now....

IrishHomer

Deleted User wrote: »

Saw a couple of grass fires last weekend, first time ever in March!

Its actually very common here in midlands for grass/bog fires in march/April.

Farmers stockpile hedgecuttings and almost every March.April a dry spell with wind too and then they burn, many thimes i see this happen and the burn gets out of control and half the bogs are burned accidentally and of course nobody takes the blame.

Joe Public

Everything looks greener this morning following last night's rain.

Gonzo

getting greener here too, with all the rain over the next 2 days we should be back to our normal green by the middle of next week.

I gave the grass a light trim last week just after the frosts had stopped, new growth can be clearly seen rising over the brown stuff.

thetonynator

quite a bit greener around here now, but nowhere near what it should be like at this time of year . . .