Walsall Wood Snow

They're probably especially early up in Scotland due to the fact that there has been a distinct lack of cold spells there this winter. Whereas last year winter was over early in most of England and Wales I think I remember there being snow reports in lowland Scotland in February. Correct me if i'm wrong.

The PIT i'd say now is quite a normal time for frogs to be spawing, any earlier is the exception I think. Last year the frogs in our pond didn't spawn until late March and iv'e had some years when spawning didn't occur until early April. Toads on the other hand normally spawn in early April. Not sure if it's illegal to collect toadspawn but you'd have a job as they tend to spawn in deeper water than frogs and since their spawn consists of strings of jelly rather than clusters they wrap it around plants and such which would be difficult to remove. I collected frogspawn years ago when we first dug out our pond and a family freind who had a pond in the garden of a new house he bought, but filled it in because he was afraid his children would drown in it gave us all the smooth newts he had. Years later we have litterally hundreds of frogs and newts but no toads have ever bred in it, despite seeing the odd toad now and again in our garden. Unlike frogs toads tend to be very picky where they breed anyway and it seems they rarely breed in garden ponds. They unlike frogs will it seems only ever breed in the pond they themselves developed in whereas frogs will breed in any body of water whithin their area.

I believe newt tadpoles are called efts. They don't grow as big as frog and toad tadpoles either and maintain their feathery gills until they leave the water ( frog and toad tadpoles develop lungs fairly quickly and have to periodically surface for air). Also unlike the tadpoles of frogs and toads they are predatory and develop their front legs first. Frog and toad tadpoles can also be distinguised from one another as frog tadpoles are brown usually speckled with metallic dots and have pointed tail tips, whereas toad tadpoles are jet black with rounder tail tips.

Don't forget Mars which is also on view in the Eastern/Southeastern horizon.

The frog in the picture you posted SNOW-JOKE is not a Marsh Frog also known as European green frogs, it is your average Common Frog also known as the European brown frog and is the only species native to Britain and are found everywhere. Marsh frogs if there are any in the UK (and if so are very rare) can be distinguised by their pointed snouts and have a distinct line running down their backs. Hope that helps

Any chance of snow tonight?

The last time I can remember a thunderstorm here (though there was the odd distant rumble last year) was I think in October 2010! And even that was the first in I don't know how long? We really seem to be in a bit of a non weather area round here most of the time these days. Even the snow we had earlier in the month was only 1-2-3 cm on average (except where it had blown against some walls) and rapidly thawed the next day. There were patches and such for over a week though, oh and there was a dusting I think it was last Friday morning (when we were forecast substantially more!) just a bit jealous of places like Northampton lol. Still we were lucky here on 22nd of December 2010 so shouldn't complain.

Well I guess us west midlanders, will just have to hope this event improves in our favour. Many thought it was going to be dry all week until today or yesterday so I think theres hope it could be snow in the west aswell yet. Based on no more than what I wish for, lol.

Is there any chance we could get away with an all snow event? Been all snow here so far, though mostly light its sticking quite well with most surfaces coated white. Going to have to carry on for alot longer though and have to get heavier to bury the grass!

Cheers Bish!

What time can we expect the snow then roughly?

How do you think we could fare in Walsall?

I'm in WS9 do my chances look good?

Well today I was in my garden and since my garden path runs next to one side of next doors pond I thought I would have a look and what do I see? A female frog being clasped by two males waiting for her to spawn. It is only the second day of January for goodness sakes, they're supposed to be hibernating!

We have got some so called winter pansies in flower in our yard. Every time I look at them, winter seems miles away (even though it is winter). Surely a decent frost will kill them. Seen a few roses still in flower aswell recently. Although I've seen this late the last couple of years in November, not in December. Though with the last two being very cold, this was prevented.

Thanks for that Slaphead your info has been very enlightening, as I now know what these events were like round these parts. Cheers.

Hi Slaphead, do you remember how much snow there was roughly in 1986? Even if not much. What about January 1987, do you remember any snow then? Thanks in advance.

It may however unlikely be possible for snow to fall any time of year even at 100m asl in southern England. I don't know of any, but if you go back far enough I wouldn't be surprised if there were reports of such incidences even in the middle of July, August or September. Of course I could be way off, but I doubt its as simple as there being one set calendar date where snow isn't possible and then the next day it is.

Thanks for the info Portland Paul. I imagine things weren't too different here north of Walsall.

Regarding the 11 year period 1976-1987, I was under the impression (I wasn't born until 1985, so excuse my ignorance lol) that winters 1979-1980 & 1980-1981 were nothing really special and the same might have applied in many areas for the winters 1982-1983 & 1983-1984, although I can appreciate that they may have had their moments. In fact I think winter 1990-1991 would have been much better than those winters and considering it was only 4 years after winter 1986-1987 I consider it as part of the same grouping of cold winters as those of the late 70s and 80s. The point being that because cold winters seem to come in groups ( This doesn't garantee we'll get one this year though) the chances are probably more likely than they were in the late 90s-late 00s.

I'd go for (likewise with no real analysis): January 1963 February 1947 March 1985 April 1989 May 2010 June 1976 July 2006 August 1995 September 1993 October 2008 November 2010 December 2010

Thanks everyone, Jupiter it seems to be as it is defiantly rising from the east and moving south east. In fact it is easily the brightest object in the sky at the moment, after the sun and moon of course.

I imagine its got to be either Mars, Jupiter or Saturn, i'd like to know which though.

I'm not saying your wrong but I thought we could only see Venus after sunset and before sunrise. While this object comes from over the eastern horizon and moves across the sky during the night.

I'm no astronomer I admit, so this is a novice question, but can anyone tell me which planet (assuming it is a planet) that very bright light in the night sky over the past few nights is? I noticed it this time last year and I believe it was visible for weeks.