WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE WEATHER ?

January for the most part here has been exceptionally wet and exceptionally warm.  Not winter at all.  The ground (heavy clay) has become waterlogged and those animals which remain out for the Winter or (like the horses and donkeys) are put out each day have cut it up badly. One wonders if the ground will ever recover. Think back 12 months and government was warning of drought to come last summer.  Some drought then and some now.

February has started in much the same vein - more rain and warmth.  Where has winter gone ?  A harsh winter makes spring feel so welcome but with this pattern we shall not know when winter ends and spring begins.  Besides the snowdrops have been out nearly a month early and the first of the daffodils are set to flower any day now.  The Canada Geese which hatched off last year have returned to the Wildlife Pond and the Moat and brought friends with them.  They should have left our lands for the winter.  The Carp in the Moat have scarcely stopped demanding to be fed - don't they know they should be hibernating ?

Yet on a bright morning with the low sun streaming through the bare trees to light up the (slightly) frosty lawns, there is a feeling (a muted light illuminating the barrenness) that no other time of year can match - a harbinger of spring to show us what's in store - but it soon burns off the frost.  The Camera Obscura on such bright days has been quite astonishing - you can see every twig on every tree. We had a party of older French schoolchildren this week and they were absolutely amazed by it - nothing like that in France they exclaimed - but then they've nothing like a Kentwell.