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<font color="119911">Any observations by our UK/Irish peers on early-newt spawn in their areas?</font>
<u>EXPRESS & ECHO </u>(Exeter, UK) 07 February 07 Early Frog-Spawn Points To A Hop In Uk Temperatures}
Before this year, Exeter resident David Taylor had never spotted frog-spawn in his garden pond until at least the end of March.But the unusually warm weather over the last month has meant that the amphibians have been laying their eggs earlier than ever before.
Mr Taylor, 66, who has lived in Beacon Lane for 16 years, said: "There must have been about half a bucketful there, but the fish have eaten some of it now. When I saw it, I was surprised and had to take a second look.
"I wasn't expecting it at all and thought something was wrong, because it was too cold for them.
"I thought they had got the timing wrong by at least six weeks and everybody else I have spoken to has said it is out of step."
As reported in the Echo, Exeter has just recorded the warmest January since 1921.
The city recorded the highest individual temperature of 15.5C in the whole of the country on January 19 and the unseasonally mild weather has led to reports of other strange phenomena.
Daffodils are already in bloom in sheltered spots across the county.
And the Echo also reported on how Diane Price, of Pellinore Road, Beacon Heath, has witnessed a bumper crop of early flowers and insects in her garden.
This year's mild winter is being taken by the experts as another sign of the impact of global warming.
John Haywood, a community biodiversity officer for the Devon Wildlife Trust, confirmed that warmer temperatures were leading to frog-spawn appearing in ponds earlier each year.
He said: "We would now normally expect frog-spawn to appear from February onwards. It is moving earlier each year as the temperatures are going up.
"As early as December, the toads started moving from their wintering ponds to their breeding ponds. There were hundreds in December and there are even more now.
"Climate change is having a huge impact. Usually, ponds icing over would create a huge risk, but we are having so little frost at the moment."
And in an update on its recent winter forecast, the Exeter-based Met Office yesterday said temperatures over the winter months were set to rise significantly above the UK average.
A statement released by the Met Office said: "It would seem that the average temperature for the winter as a whole will be well above normal when the data is finalised at the end of February."
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=137199&command=displayContent&sourceNode=136986&contentPK=16580163&folderPk=79934&pNodeId=137002
<u>EXPRESS & ECHO </u>(Exeter, UK) 07 February 07 Early Frog-Spawn Points To A Hop In Uk Temperatures}
Before this year, Exeter resident David Taylor had never spotted frog-spawn in his garden pond until at least the end of March.But the unusually warm weather over the last month has meant that the amphibians have been laying their eggs earlier than ever before.
Mr Taylor, 66, who has lived in Beacon Lane for 16 years, said: "There must have been about half a bucketful there, but the fish have eaten some of it now. When I saw it, I was surprised and had to take a second look.
"I wasn't expecting it at all and thought something was wrong, because it was too cold for them.
"I thought they had got the timing wrong by at least six weeks and everybody else I have spoken to has said it is out of step."
As reported in the Echo, Exeter has just recorded the warmest January since 1921.
The city recorded the highest individual temperature of 15.5C in the whole of the country on January 19 and the unseasonally mild weather has led to reports of other strange phenomena.
Daffodils are already in bloom in sheltered spots across the county.
And the Echo also reported on how Diane Price, of Pellinore Road, Beacon Heath, has witnessed a bumper crop of early flowers and insects in her garden.
This year's mild winter is being taken by the experts as another sign of the impact of global warming.
John Haywood, a community biodiversity officer for the Devon Wildlife Trust, confirmed that warmer temperatures were leading to frog-spawn appearing in ponds earlier each year.
He said: "We would now normally expect frog-spawn to appear from February onwards. It is moving earlier each year as the temperatures are going up.
"As early as December, the toads started moving from their wintering ponds to their breeding ponds. There were hundreds in December and there are even more now.
"Climate change is having a huge impact. Usually, ponds icing over would create a huge risk, but we are having so little frost at the moment."
And in an update on its recent winter forecast, the Exeter-based Met Office yesterday said temperatures over the winter months were set to rise significantly above the UK average.
A statement released by the Met Office said: "It would seem that the average temperature for the winter as a whole will be well above normal when the data is finalised at the end of February."
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=137199&command=displayContent&sourceNode=136986&contentPK=16580163&folderPk=79934&pNodeId=137002