January 2026
Red skies, snow and wet, wet, wet
On the 1st January 2026, the evening skies around Otley and the surrounds, blazed in oranges, reds and pinks. What a start to the new year!
But the brightness, didn’t last.
Within the first week, the snow came. We had quite a bit of it (for Suffolk!) – even enough for snowmen, but thankfully it didn’t last too long to become boring and slushy.
And then came the rain. Lots of rain. January seems to me to have been one of the wettest months for a long time. Ponds are high, ditches are full, and floods on roads and in fields have been bad news for many.
IN THE FIELDS
The fields around us range from being bare earth to having winter crops battling against the elements.
IN THE VERGES AND HEDGEROWS
Some farmers are busy trimming hedges. Most of the fruit is gone, though there are still a few bushes and trees with the less palatable fruits available to our hungry birds. Even flocks of fieldfares, leave our bitter crab apples until there’s nothing else left!
Harsh January also brings one of the most delicate wild flowers in the UK: snowdrops. They come as early as mid-January some years but they seem to be a little later this year. So, in the midst of all the rain, we have snow yet again 🙂
