Blooming good start to the year

I read with interest today that the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI) recorded 612 different wild plant species in flower across Britain & Ireland, between 1 – 4 January this year. In a normal cold winter an average of 20 -30 plants would be expected to be in flower at the start of the year.  Last January (2015), in the same period, 368 wild plants were found to be in flower.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) in flower.

A similar trend in wild plant flowering has been evident in the Paddock Wood area over the last few years, although the overall number of species in flower is lower.

So what’s causing this massive change in flowering behaviour?

THE BSBI survey showed that 75% of the plants in flower were ‘Autumn stragglers’, like yarrow, dead nettle & red campion, where the absence of hard frosts has enabled the plants to keep flowering through the mild winter. Around 20% of the plants were early and 5% on time.

So it seems the absence of autumn and winter frosts is ensuring that there are more patches of colour to be seen in the countryside, than would have been the case 20 – 30 years ago. Add to this the flowers to be found in urban gardens and maybe we should get used to seeing more colour in our lives in the winter, as the climate is predicted to warm throughout the 21^st century.

I am not so sure that every winter will be a riot of colour, for climate change and annual weather patterns are unpredictable, but perhaps once every ten years or so, walks around Paddock Wood and the surrounding countryside will be brightened by displays of colour, which would have been unthinkable a generation ago.