Frogs and trees cross roads

The severe storms of mid February wrought havoc and mayhem in North Wales.Thousands of trees were blown down blocking railway lines,roads and severing  electricity power lines. Dol y moch was without power for almost two day resulting in Frederick Bird and Spongate Primary school groups having to return to Coventry. However the good news is that both schools have had their courses re-scheduled for the summer.
At one stage road access to Dol y Moch was completely blocked by several fallen trees. (See below)

This is where the coach stops when dropping off or picking up school groups

Sadly the lovely old cherry tree that once stood in front of the house and which produced spectacular displays of pink blossom each spring, is now no more, along with many oak trees in the Dol y Moch woodland.

The end of the Cherry Tree

But even in stormy February a few spring flowers were braving the weather, Lesser Celandine making an appearance on the 16th and Daffodils on the 20th.

In March the Jet Stream slipped northwards heralding a change to calmer conditions and a feeling that spring had finally arrived.(Well almost)

Wood Anemones in bloom were spotted on the 20th March, a single white Bluebell on the 30th, and on the 2nd April,  Bluebells proper were beginning to flower.

A surge of unseasonal warm, dusty air coming up from Africa and the Mediterranean took my shade thermometer to just under 22 C on the 30th March; However, I understand that officially,  Porthmadog was the warmest spot in Britain with 21C recorded!

Heavy rain on the evening of 31st coupled with the warm air brought masses of migrating frogs out onto the steamy roads......quite a wildlife spectacle but hellishly difficult for driving.That night I drove from Caernarfon to Porthmadog and had to dodge hundreds of frogs wandering across the road; fortunately their light coloured skin under their chins stood out in the car headlights so I was able to miss them by driving slowly and safely. However, noting the speed of other cars that evening it would appear that their drivers were either unaware of the frogs or unconcerned.............in both cases that was a pity.

Our migrant bird species began arriving on the 20th March but more about that in my next blog very soon.