Early Arrival

Like most things occurring in this age of Global Warming we were not surprised yesterday evening when we heard the familiar sound of a Cuckoo.
Another Dee top birding spot.

Photographing him proved more difficult but we got there in the end!

Having already recorded early arrivals like Swallows & Martins but no Swift as yet, our Cuckoo, not really due until early May, had obviously took it upon himself to return early to our warmer climbs.
April is shaping up to be one of the warmest on record. At the time of publication of this post, the current CET (Central England Temperature) for April is running at +10.3C, that's an incredible +2.4C above what should be expected at this time of year. In essence the mean temperatures for April at the moment would be more applicable to May or June.
The past winter was very mild and sea temperatures in and around the UK are between 1.5C and 2.5C above average. The near continent is warming quickly in association with plenty of high pressure dominated weather and a lack of rain. Could these and other variables lead to the potential for a hot summer? The answer to that is yes, it is a possibility. This weekend would seem to prove a point as high pressure is set to return to the UK. Which for us is good news as we're taking friends out on their 1st trip aboard Quidditch.

(Weather Stats taken from Metcheck.com.)