On Friday, myself and a colleague were walking through the grounds of our horticultural centre discussing plans to increase and expand production for next year. It was very warm, sunny and still. We were standing about 50 yards away from a large patch of raspberries, when all of a sudden, about half a dozen dead leaves lifted into the air from the centre of the patch.

More and more leaves rose from the ground and slowly started circling to about 15 feet into the air. We were transfixed as we realised that we were witnessing the beginnings of a mini-whirlwind. Within seconds the spiralling column started to move uphill and passed right through us creating an exhillarating but very stiff breeze. It was the weirdest sensation and had I have been on my own, I'd have thought it to be dead spooky.