It's such a warm December that...

The hedgehogs are still awake around here, we have hedgehog poos and a neighbour popped a video on his facebook page. I am pleased, because they will eat all the slugs and snails we still have everywhere.

As for insects not being around - I saw a butterfly the other day, and we do still have bees and heaven knows what else. They come down our chimney and fly around the room, the ivy on the wall is still in flower and very busy.

DD posted on FB this morning a pic of her car dash showing 15c and she's in Edinburgh.
Shrubs are in bud in Kent.

It's unseasonably warm in Devon too, and we have had the roses in bloom - though a couple of our rose bushes always have flowers the whole year round, so it's not that unusual for us.
The rain, however, is something else. I can't remember the last non rainy day - it seems to have been raining for weeks on end. Today has been horrendous, with heavy downpours for hours. When it isn't properly raining, the air is heavy with mist and drizzle. It is really beginning to get me down now

I've seen dandelions, daisies and daffodils flowering today.
My goldfish are swimming at the surface of the pond and eagerly feeding. I wonder what effect this temperature will have on animals which should be hibernating, there aren't any insects for them to eat.

Anya.....it may just be the red wine talking.....but is 'quince bush in full bloom' a euphemism?

My roses are flowering and the strawberries are sending out shoots. Wold not surprise me if they start flowering soon - strawberries in January, anyone?

That's bonkers Hildajenni, isn't it?!

Our magnolia tree is in bud! A colleague of mine had left her lettuces to go to seed in the summer. They have sprouted and she had a delicious salad with the new crop the other day.

But it has been warm for quite a few Christmasses recently. My 3 DS's took a whole load of photos in the garden Christmas Eve a couple of years ago (the first time they were together) The photos made up most of their Christmas presents that year, even though they came a bit late. They are all in tee shirts and a couple are barefoot.

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Crazy weather. Far too warm. I've turned off the heating!! I'm usually a cold body, but not recently. Here are contrasting pictures from my garden taken on the 10th and 12th December.

Cherry blossom out in Bath, my fairy toadflax is flowering as is my leafless viburnum plicatum, penstemon so, convolvulus and yet more roses. I have lavender cuttings taken a year ago blooming as well as foxgloves and a clematis has flower buds.
It's all very topsy turvy!

The temperature here in Oxfordshire has been 15 degrees today. I have lots of unseasonal plants in flower, including Japonica, Weigelia, Roses, Anemone Blanda, Snowdrops, Primroses, Million Bells, Periwinkle, Ox-eye daisies and lawn daisies. I have also seen Daffs and Magnolia in bud.

It was so warm last night that I got up to see if I had left the heating on. I hadn't. However, although it is unseasonably warm, it's raining on and off in this part of Cheshire.

The last time i remember it being this warm at Christmas was back in the late seventies. We came up here to Yorkshire from Essex to spend Christmas with my sister's family. It was very mild, and she cut roses, which were blooming happily, for the Christmas table. By New Year, the temperature had dropped like a stone, and on New Year's Eve morning, it started to snow heavily so we fled back South in a panic. It took hours. We got a mile or so from home and then had to abandon the car and walk. The kids were really good- they thought it was an adventure!

I saw a couple of cherry trees in full flower last weekend, when we were down near Bath. Very pretty, but not at all Christmassy

My quince bush is in full bloom

Oh yes neighbours have balconies full of geraniums in full bloom here in N Wales (new properties with glass balcony fronts). But drying clothes... I don't think we have had more than one or two 24 hrs without rain since the beginning of November

I'm envious. Can't recall when it was dry enough to put laundry out and it feels chilly. I guess because of the rain.

....nor here kittyleicester but I do have a tub of geraniums blooming happily next to the Christmas tree. ?

Its been 16 deg here , very odd indeed.

It's not that warm here in Leicestershire!

We've just come back from our village Christmas Market. It felt weird singing carols in jeans and T shirt.

I just went outside to dig up some parsnips - and the stinging nettle seedlings have taken off. It was a very painful process because I couldn't be bothered to go back to fetch gloves.
Yes, no heating on here, it's almost 17C even though it's getting dark, and I am considering changing our duvet back to summer weight tonight, I have been throwing it off every night. All the hellebores are in flower, the snowdrops are out and the aconites, daffodils are a foot high and tulips are well up. Roses and lavenders are in flower, as are DBH's alpine beds. Geranium Rozanne has never stopped. I love it, but it worries me.

Daffs in bud before the snowdrops! Going to be a funny sort of spring.

Went to Tesco in just jeans and t-shirt this morning and there were people that with hats coats and scarves on.

I have a line full of lovely dry laundry that I need to take in... so nice to still be able to get my washing fully dry outside.

And yet there was someone shopping in Herefordshire today wearing a fur hat and jacket....as if it was freezing!!! Me, I'm in a tee shirt with a thin Mac because its raining.