March began cold. The beautiful early flowering St. John's Plum tree did not flower until March 8th. This wild tree whose fruit in midsummer makes the most excellent jam is often in flower in February (19th February in 2008).
Other flowers were also late - daffodils 14th March, celandines 18 March. These dates represent a fairly full flowering.
Our last ground frost was March 20th.
The cuckoo was heard on March 16th.
But then at the very end of March the temperatures rose significantly.
Summer temperatures came in the first week of April.
the first Orchis morio was seen on April 3rd.
The 6th April we saw the butterflies -Scarce Swallowtail and Orange tip.
The hoopoe was heard on April 1st. The nightingale on April 25th. It was a few days earlier heard at Lavercantière about 10 km away.
But April saw the beginning of a drought. Only 4 mm. of rain fell in the month.
It was the driest and warmest April in the last few years.
April 2010 rainfall was 13 max temp. 19.6 ; in 2009 -168 mm. and 16.2 degrees.
Our rainwater reservoir is in full use for watering the flower crop and our vegetables.
