Spring Is Round The Corner!

above image seen here

"After the long winter months, we are rapidly gaining more daylight, around four minutes every day. There is also a touch of warmth to the Sun, so you might be asking if it is nearly spring. However, there is a difference in opinion over when winter ends. As a result, there are two dates that you can use to mark the start of spring, depending on whether you are looking at meteorological or astronomical spring.

What is meteorological spring?

You will hear weather forecasters talking about the start of spring as 1 March. In meteorology, the seasons are grouped into three months and for spring, that's March, April and May. Therefore, spring ends on 31 May before the summer months of June, July and August. We group the seasons into three-monthly periods so that when looking at weather and climate statistics, there's a fixed time-frame to make comparisons. This is unlike astronomical spring where the date will change slightly each year due to the orbit of Earth around the Sun.

When does astronomical spring begin?

Perhaps the more common idea of when spring begins is at astronomical spring. This date can vary each year by a few days but in 2025, it will be 20 March. Astronomical spring is actually the date of the spring equinox which is determined by the Earth's tilt as it travels around the Sun. On the equinox, the Sun crosses the equator, making day and night nearly equal in length. The word "equinox" comes from Latin, where equi means "equal" and nox means "night." Beyond the equinox, day length will be longer than night. Astronomically, spring ends on 21 June, at the summer solstice.

What about phenological spring?

You may also want to consider phenology - the behaviour of plants and animals in response to the changing weather and climate - as another marker for the start of spring. For those who follow nature, dates for the start of phenological spring are highly variable due to the weather conditions and species. Frogspawn, for example, may appear in late February whereas bluebells sometimes appear in early April. But climate change is also having an impact on these dates. Data gathered by a citizen science project with the Woodland Trust, shows that since 2000 - amongst other species - frogspawn and bluebells are appearing earlier.

When do the clocks go forward?

Clocks change from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to British Summer Time (BST) on 30 March. If you're familiar with the phrase, the clocks will 'spring forward' by an hour. For most of us, this means we 'lose' an hour from the day but our evenings will become significantly lighter. Clocks go forward in the summer for 'daylight saving' - an idea first introduced in 1907 by William Willett, a British builder who noticed people were sleeping through the daylight on summer mornings. He proposed shifting the clocks forward to help everyone make better use of the daylight and the 'Summer Time Act' was passed by Parliament in 1916."

Words above from article seen here

As regular readers know, this blog is presented in a magazine style. You will find a variety of articles, studies, thoughts, photographs, music and recipes!

However, not all the recipe ideas featured in this blog may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter. If you have any concerns about your health it is always advisable to consult your Doctor or health care team.

All the best Jan