Peter Gibbs

A mere scratch

The Poet Laureate is a secret weather nerd. Love it.

This was being nibbled enthusiastically by the newts...

Felt like we needed a nature break!

Freshly laid frogspawn in a garden pond

Bright yellow catkins of goat willow

Newly emerged hawthorn leaves tipped with flower buds, yet to open

White flowers of blackthorn, with long yellow-tipped anthers

Signs of Spring

A picture of the UK from space, with clear skies in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Cloudy elsewhere, with dust in the east.

Did you wake up to dust on your car this morning? 🤔

Saharan dust will still be in the air this weekend, so you may want to hold off washing your car! 👇

Sheep are disappearing from the UK's hills - and its dinner plates Have we have passed

BBC News - Sheep are disappearing from the UK's hills - and its dinner plates - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Skies turning increasingly milky in SE England this afternoon as a dense plume of Saharan dust spreads up from the south. Look for dust on cars tomorrow as the thickest of the plume drifts across, some of it being brought down by rain.

Please warn people about HIGH and VERY HIGH 7-10/10 #AirPollution from this #SaharanDust episode to Sunday. Health advice webpages from Defra and Met Office have gone offline. It may be life or death for some people uk-air.defra.gov.uk and uk-air.defra.gov.uk/air-pollutio...

'Blood rain' and fiery sunsets as Saharan dust sweeps UK North African dust carried to the UK by a weather system are forecast to have some unusual effects in the coming days.

BBC News - 'Blood rain' and fiery sunsets as Saharan dust sweeps UK
www.bbc.co.uk/weather/arti...

Had a Brimstone flitting around the garden yesterday

Absolutely shouts Spring

Primrose and cherry plum bang on cue for the first day of meteorological Spring #wildflowerhour

Close-up picture of the buds at the end of a hazel twig bursting into leaf

Hello hazel

Hmm - I would settle for something in between. 10C and 12 hours of continuous rain is a tad tedious! Still, if you come to the Lake District....

Soggy stiles around Colwith - and yes I know it was 19C and sunny in the south thank you very much
@lakesstiles.bsky.social

Lake District morning

Yes, although didn't feel like it up at 500m in a severe gale yesterday!

Wind-blasted stile on the top of Lingmoor Fell, being slowly absorbed into the landscape as scree and silt builds up on the far side. Langdale Pikes as backdrop.
@lakesstiles.bsky.social

Birch catkins braving the downpours in a dripping patch of Lake District temperate rainforest #wildflowerhour

I find now in my mature years that I appreciate the quiet complexity of the lowlands as much as the grandeur of the tops.

Nice collection of through-stone stiles amongst the rocky knolls above Colwith.

Ooh, controversial

Not just you

New generation record in 2026: As of January, wind and solar have now consistently out-generated fossil gas power for 12-months in a row, for the first time. A threshold has now been crossed where wind and solar have generated more than gas through winter, spring, summer and autumn.

😕🛶

Reading University's unbroken rain record ends after 37 days The meteorologists recorded 188.5mm of rain so far this year - a level usually met by late April.

BBC News - Reading University's unbroken rain record ends after 37 days - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Yes, spotted a couple of bumblebees while the sun was out too. There are apparently a few species of winter bee.

Hairy-footed flower bee basking on the bee hotel when the sun came out a couple of days ago

Turning into a pretty bad season for avalanches. Seriously high risk after recent heavy snowfall.