Animals, Plants and the Weather, Natures Signs :MOD note 121

Elmer Blooker · 08-03-2013 3:51pm

I don't usually have much time for this animals and the weather stuff but the birds are attacking the bird feeders now like a plague of locusts ! :eek:
I better fill 'em again - can't have my feathered friends going hungry.

kenmc · 08-03-2013 4:03pm

Redsunset wrote: »

The opposite has happened here. Was a frenzy yesterday morning. Fatballs snd nuts devoured. Netting with some left even carried away.

Wierd. will see how it is when i get home this evening

kenmc · 09-03-2013 3:17pm

fatballs still there. hope my birdies don't mean to say no snow

Bejubby · 09-03-2013 10:07pm

Ive had no birds today,usually have all sorts.
Somthing isnt right.
Reckon their gone to warm up the nests.

sparrowcar · 06-09-2013 6:19am

Hi all,

An observation I thought I would share with you. Maybe coincidence but I think not.

I work in Dublin airport and start my shift at 0430 the last 2 days. On wed eve going to bed it was 17c at 2200 and 14c at 0415 on my way to work. I have a short drive on a back road around the airport.

Last night it was 11c at 10pm and 5c at 0415 this morning and I passed 5 fresh road kills. (1 hedgehog, 3 rabbits and 1 unknown)

My immediate reaction was that the cold had played a part in their demise.

Anyone have an opinion?

fr wishy washy · 06-09-2013 7:09am

About 30 little birds came into my back garden looking for food last weekend. Unusual for this time of year.

Blizzard 2010 · 07-09-2013 12:07am

sparrowcar wrote: »

Hi all,

An observation I thought I would share with you. Maybe coincidence but I think not.

I work in Dublin airport and start my shift at 0430 the last 2 days. On wed eve going to bed it was 17c at 2200 and 14c at 0415 on my way to work. I have a short drive on a back road around the airport.

Last night it was 11c at 10pm and 5c at 0415 this morning and I passed 5 fresh road kills. (1 hedgehog, 3 rabbits and 1 unknown)

My immediate reaction was that the cold had played a part in their demise.

Anyone have an opinion?

maybe they were knocked down by cars/lorries and maybe just a coincidence. Doubt its to do with the cold. These animals survive at very low temperature

sparrowcar · 07-09-2013 12:12am

Blizzard 2010 wrote: »

maybe they were knocked down by cars/lorries and maybe just a coincidence. Doubt its to do with the cold. These animals survive at very low temperature

I appreciate that but I suppose my point is more about a sharp change in temperature and could it catch them out and make them a bit dopey?

Maybe it was just coincidence.

Joe Public · 02-10-2013 10:59pm

I'd usually have loads of monster spiders in visiting me by this time of the year but not much doing?? Is it the unusually mild weather or what?

Lucreto · 02-10-2013 11:07pm

Joe Public wrote: »

I'd usually have loads of monster spiders in visiting me by this time of the year but not much doing?? Is it the unusually mild weather or what?

I have them running around the house currently. The cats make short work of them sadly. I try and save as many as I can.

flutered · 07-04-2014 10:34pm

the blackthorn has started to flower, traditionally this leads to hard and mostly dry weather.

Larbre34 · 08-04-2014 12:33pm

The blackthorn would appear to be in line with the forecast. A bit of drying out all round would be welcome.

flutered · 18-04-2014 7:46pm

i posted some time ago about the blackthorn flowering and the weather associated with it, so this takes things a little faurther, when the blackthorn has finished flowering, traditionally we get a period of softer weather, this is usually an 8-14 day span, then the whitethorn begins to flower, with this we traditionally have a return to the hard weather.

C.K Dexter Haven · 25-08-2014 8:48pm

Well, don't know if this thread is replicated elsewhere. The point of the tread is to either discuss or simply document observations of nature and see if they are anyways related to the upcoming weather season.

I have a few apple trees. I've gathered most of them at this stage but this in itself was prompted by flocks of starlings on the tree every day recently- I've never considered harvesting apples in August before. The blackbirds and thrushes are down every morning early, devouring the windfalls.
Just wondering is this a sign of a harsh winter ahead?

maquiladora · 25-08-2014 9:09pm

I have several books on weather lore, it's always interesting and fun to read.

In general though I think that nature signs like this are more of a reaction to current/recent weather conditions rather than any kind of indicator of what the weather will be like in the coming months.

Iancar29 · 25-08-2014 9:25pm

Animals react to weather changes , they dont forecast them ....

Red Nissan · 29-08-2014 11:15am

I watch the spring mostly, long, lazy springs usually indicate a pleasant year ahead for flora and fauna.

Animals can be a good indication but not always, I used to know that bad weather was imminent as the local school's playground would be full of sea birds. We've had near hurricane force storms recently and hardly a sea bird in sight. So I ponder.

Some believe animals have a sixth sense, and I'd take that seriously, however, there are many animals who seem to be dumb and suffer at the weather instead of reacting to it.

jacko1 · 18-11-2014 1:24pm

we have had the biggest ever amount of holly berries this autumn.

It brought this piece from 4 years ago to mind - and we all know what happened through the following month !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8135035/Holly-berries-suggest-harsh-winter-on-the-way.html

Graces7 · 18-11-2014 2:37pm

jacko1 wrote: »

we have had the biggest ever amount of holly berries this autumn.

It brought this piece from 4 years ago to mind - and we all know what happened through the following month !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8135035/Holly-berries-suggest-harsh-winter-on-the-way.html

The blackberry crop also was phenomenal... but few rowan berries..

Villain · 18-11-2014 2:50pm

The number of Berries on bushes and trees are a result of the weather that has gone not what may come!

kkontour · 18-11-2014 11:07pm

Is it possible that weather gone by may be an indicator to future weather?

Villain wrote: »

The number of Berries on bushes and trees are a result of the weather that has gone not what may come!

Villain · 19-11-2014 11:56am

kkontour wrote: »

Is it possible that weather gone by may be an indicator to future weather?

Impossible to know.

Nabber · 19-11-2014 6:11pm

Wild animals in nature is a sign of weather gone by.

Bumper vine crops are usually after a cold winter, cold winter kills of disease and fungus allowing the vines to grow bigger during spring.

If evolution is your persuasion, then Humans should also have this ability, it's an ability that one would not drop through evolution.

I do believe that some animals understand the affect of weather, ie African plains animals following the rains.

Graces7 · 20-11-2014 8:47am

Villain wrote: »

The number of Berries on bushes and trees are a result of the weather that has gone not what may come!

There is more in this than that petty logic. Mystery and mystique beyond mere science

Nabber · 20-11-2014 2:06pm

I not sure there is mystery in it.

Animals react to weather and don't predict it. Animals maybe able to detect pressure drops. But how would the animal know if the high/low is N/S/E/W of the island. H pressure to the north bring different weather to H pressure in the south.

Mystique. Not sure what to say on this as it's more faith that fact.

The flight of some birds during hurricanes is amazing, how animals interact with weather is amazing. But I'm not sure they predict the weather, more so they adapted to live with the weather.

Strangegravy · 20-11-2014 4:22pm

There's been a fantastic crop of various berries on most trees near me over the last four years.

I've been keeping an eye on them since the big freeze of 2010, and unfortunately it doesn't seem to predict what's to come, as we've had relatively warm winters since.

Just means the growing season was good and they thrived, that's all.

screamer · 21-11-2014 1:31am

My semi-feral cat meowling at the back door for food is always a sign of cold weather coming. She is usually quite self sufficient, but for the past 3-4 days she's been there like a bad smell. Of course I feed her, I have her food here waiting, but she's not around every day, so when I see her like this, looking for food a couple of days in a row, I know, cold is on the way (and it arrived last night).