A Bewick Swan arrives at Slimbridge

That's cheered me up this morning, not

My mother keeps saying that!!
Which year was it 1962? Snow fell here in Sussex on Boxing Day and stayed until March.

Sorry Nina but at least you will be prepared for the big chill. This should warm you up

NanKate I quiet like snow......
.......
.......

to look at
A cold winter doesn't really bother me, but the is very welcome

Yes '62/ '63 and '76

There are at lot of berries on the trees and bushes. They are also supposed to herald a cold winter. Brrrrr!

x

I think it is the fact that the bewick swan has arrived early that points to a cold Winter. I believe they have bewick swans every year. Just not this early.

Sorry to be pedantic.

Well if they are forecasting a long, hard winter, I won't bother to pack the barbie and gatden furniture away after all. Basing this on forecasts for this year's "Barbecue Summer". No, me neither

Well it's bloomin' cold here today.

I may yet get some use from my rose covered pink wellies ( unused since I bought them as an impulse buy!)

You are not being pedantic Jing I wasn't quite sure what the situation was and you have cleared it up for me thanks.

My DH is very pedantic, but I still love him

I always trot out the old thing about lots of berries on the trees heralding a hard winter and DH always poo-poos it, but given a superabundance of berries this year even he is beginning to wonder ! The forecast is based on something to do with the position of El Niño apparently.

Oh dear Lordy, please don't tell me is going to be very cold/lots of snow/well below freezing/icy roads/--just about anything else that can be applied to winter-- just yet.
I hate the cold, wish I could hibernate to April

Did all the other bewick swans not get the weather forecast?

I suspect this one either accidentally :
a) forgot to let the others know
or b) deliberately set of early to bag the best over-wintering spot
or c) has spent the summer lurking locally as couldn't be a..ed bothered to fly 3000 miles only to have to turn round and come back in a few months.

Apparently it's been the first to arrive regularly for some years

It reminds me of my DH. He's just the same. Always has to be early getting everywhere.

Lucky you jingl!
Mine's late for absolbl..dylutely everything- it drives me mad

The family say that his funeral will be the first time he's ever been on time

There will be hundreds there later. My family and I will no doubt be there feeding them ( in thermals)

They are an amazing sight, aren't they Galen?
I love Slimbridge, and seeing the bird life along the Sharpness canal and the banks of the Severn.

You're right jings the Bewick swans do come every year, but one has arrived especially early this year.

This was the headline in the DT:
Britain faces longest winter in 50 years after earliest ever arrival of Siberian swan
The arrival of winter, traditionally heralded by the migration of Siberian swans, has come early as 300 birds flock to Britain

Then it goes on to say that just one has arrived!

DH reckons that if it is cold where they come from (Arctic Russia) they decide to come here earlier!
Temperatures are currently five to 10 degrees below average in parts of western Russia and eastern Europe and are expected to drop to the minus 30s

There's no reason why an icy blast should follow, as our weather predominantly comes from the west or south-west.
(although I have noticed more northerly and easterly winds in the last few years )

Apparently aAustralian scientists were predicting this earlier Iin the summer. All down to El nino effect .

With all the high tech weather equipment we have nowadays, we are told in advance of impending bad weather. Our parents wouldn't have benefited from all the info we have at our finger tips now.

On the other hand ignorance is bliss so perhaps they were lucky not to have long range forecasts.

Reminds me of a bird loving friend who took her small sons to Slimbridge. One wrote up the outing in his school news book. Being car mad he recorded that the birds he liked best were the Buick swans!

I don't know if geese know anything about a bad winter but this morning at 10:30 several dozen flew over our house in about seven long ?skeins? It was a lovely sight,I had never seen so many flying together and it was south they were heading.