This weeks email from the Gardening Telegraph is particularly
interesting as it deals at length with climatic change. I have copied
part of their email below to give a flavour of their weekly
contribution.

" What to do in your garden this weekend 17 - 18 January

Ignore the rain - officially it's spring

No, it's not your imagination: spring is actually arriving
earlier almost every year. Climate change in the past 50 years has
brought forward the season by about three weeks, from April to March.

Dr Tim Sparks of the centre for ecology and hydrology in
Cambridge, said no spring had arrived sooner than the season of 2002,
when the first frog-spawn appeared on Dec 10, 2001, and the first
primroses in October. Only a few reports have been received so far, but
spring 2004 is on course to beat 2003, which was also earlier than
average, and could overtake 2002.

Frog-spawn was found in Penzance on Dec 19 and primroses
have been seen in 24 places as far north as Northumberland. Both usually
appear in March. Snowdrops, which typically begin to bloom in February,
have been sighted in 15 parts of the country.

"We are in a period where records are broken constantly," Dr
Sparks said. "The 1990s was the warmest decade on record and plants and
animals have responded. It is undoubted that we have entered a phase of
climate change." Dr Sparks was speaking after the launch last week of
Spring into Science, a campaign run by the British Association for the
Advancement of Science and the Woodland Trust to encourage more people
to report seasonal indicators. In spring these include the first
ladybirds, tree leaves, swallows and bees. The information will help
phenologists studying patterns of the seasons.


a.. If you want to help report the seasons, contact the
association at www.the-ba.net where you can download a free wallchart to
help you monitor the first signs of spring.

Garden chemicals: time to check" Snip.....




Anyone wishing to obtain the Gardening Telegraph weekly email needs to
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email'

Regards,
Emrys Davies.