´óÏó´«Ã½

March came in like lamb this year but it's going out like a lion with strong to gale force winds buffeting Wales. Here are a selection of wind gusts from around the country:

Lake Vyrnwy 65mph, Aberdaron 61mph, Capel Curig 53mph, Aberporth 55mph, Hawarden 53mph, Tirabad 43mph, Mumbles Head 40mph.

The wind has now eased but it's still breezy, especially on high ground and on some coasts.

The reason for the strong winds is low pressure over Scotland. That will move away and a warm front will cross Wales tonight introducing warmer air from Spain and the Bay of Biscay tomorrow.

Met Office weather chart for 1 April at 1pm.

Tonight will turn damp with some light rain and drizzle. It'll be breezy too with strong winds in the north west. Lowest temperatures will be around 10 Celsius.

Tomorrow will start dull and damp with some hill fog. Most of the rain will be in the north but during the day much of the country will become dry and brighter with some sunshine.

Top temperatures 18 Celsius, 64 Fahrenheit but windy with the strongest winds in the north west with gusts over 50mph on Anglesey where it will be cooler with temperatures nearer 12 Celsius.

The weekend will be breezy at times with a mixture of sunshine and April showers which could be heavy on Sunday with hail and thunder.

And finally I'll leave you with some old March sayings I've come across:

"A dry March and a wet May? Fill barns and bays with corn and hay."

"As it rains in March so it rains in June."

"March winds and April showers? Bring forth May flowers."

On Sunday 17 April the near Lampeter is holding a Dawn Chorus Walk.

This April weekend also marks the start of the summer season for the Eco Campsite at Denmark Farm. Visitors are invited to put up their tents, immerse themselves in nature and join the guided bird walk.

After such a long cold winter now is the time to get outdoors again and appreciate our beautiful surroundings. Many naturalists believe that birdsong may prove beneficial to our wellbeing.

Dr Lance Workman, a Chartered Psychologist, said: "The idea that hearing the sound of birds singing can put us in happy mood makes a lot of sense."

"It is entirely feasible that early humans came to associate bird song with areas rich in resources and we have been handed down the legacy of associating bird song with elevated mood from such ancient ancestors."

Angie Polkey, of the Shared Earth Trust, said: "With our help, Denmark Farm has been transformed into a natural paradise for birds and other wildlife. The hedgerows, woodlands, traditionally grazed grasslands and ponds offer shelter, food and other resources which attract many animals.

Since 1987, the number of bird species breeding here has more than tripled and the density of nests has risen by over 250% - so there should be plenty to hear on the Dawn Chorus Walk at the start of the breeding season.

Mara Morris, of the Shared Earth Trust, said: "The Dawn Chorus Walk is part of our programme called Wildlife Where You Live (WWYL) and is free to take part.

The Eco-Campsite at Denmark Farm is open from mid April until October and includes a camp kitchen and yurt for group use.

Set in a wildlife-rich 40-acre nature reserve, the camp site is situated on a gently sloping hay meadow next to woodland.

With almost no light pollution, the stars are amazing. Campers have the unique opportunity to share this peaceful place with red kites circling overhead, hares hiding in the undergrowth, dragonflies darting over the ponds, hedgerows and woods full of birdsong, and flower-filled meadows.

Anyone wanting to find out more please contact:info@shared-earth-trust.org.uk or phone 01570 493358.

As expected we've had a drop of rain today, the first for a while but welcomed by gardeners and allotment owners.

No doubt the farmers are pleased too, given it's been such a dry month. Rainfall totals today between 1 and 5mm so not a huge amount but enough to freshen things up.

There's more rain on the way tonight and some heavy rain for a time. The wind will increase too, becoming strong to gale force on exposed coasts and on higher ground.

On Thursday the jet stream, (very strong winds high in the atmosphere) will be across the Atlantic and passing over Britain.

So, tomorrow will start cloudy and damp with some drizzle and hill fog but during the day it will turn much drier with a few bright, sunny intervals.

Top temperatures 12 to 16 Celsius and breezy. The south-westerly wind will be fresh to strong with gales on the mountains for a time.

Thursday night will bring more rain and drizzle with the rain heaviest in the north west and Snowdonia with strong to gale force winds.

Friday will start cloudy and damp but become drier and brighter in places too but still windy. It will also be very mild with top temperatures around 19 Celsius but cooler on the south and west coast with a wind off sea.

So very changeable weather over the next few days. The weekend will be turning cooler with a mixture of sunshine and April showers but next week there is a hint that we may be in for a dose of high pressure again.

Scientists at Cardiff University have recently discovered that insects using vibration to attract mates risk being eaten alive by spiders.

According to Dr Meta Virant-Doberlet and Professor William Symondson - "Vibrational signalling is a widespread form of sexual communication between animals."

"By observing this behaviour we have been able to see, for the first time, that spiders are able to exploit sexual vibrational communication signals as a mean of tracking down their prey."

When recordings of male leafhopper vibrational signals were played, spiders began homing in on the signal, searching for food.

They also preferred male leafhoppers over females, probably due to the louder more complex signals used by males during courtship.

There's plenty of nature activities happening over the next few months in Wales.

I hope you've all managed to sort out your body clocks now BST is finally here. The rookery near my house has definitely livened up lately and I keep meaning to try and film the daily aerial acrobatics, as hundreds of crows take to the skies each dawn and dusk.

Hywel Couch has been in touch from the to say that they will be launching a new project - Explore Nature at St Fagans.

There's a brand new bird hide in place as well as webcams recording all the action so if you fancy seeing some lesser horseshoe bats, great crested newts and too many birds to mention, then pop down there from Saturday, 2 April.

Further north, the National Trust has launched a £1million appeal to help save a Snowdonia farmhouse - Llyndy Isaf which is now up for sale.

The 600 acre upland farm on the shores of Llyn Dinas is unique in Snowdonia - untouched by intensive farming and home to many threatened species such as kingfisher, otter and chough.

Richard Neale, the National Trust’s General Manager in Snowdonia said today: "When I look at the landscape of this small but spectacular corner of Wales I can't think of a more deserving location for National Trust protection than Llyndy Isaf."

"I hope that people from Wales and beyond help us, so that we can buy the farm. If we don't raise the money, we will lose Llyndy Isaf. There is, frankly, no plan B".

Welsh Hollywood actor Matthew Rhys, star of American drama series Brothers and Sisters, and newly released film Patagonia, has become the Ambassador to save one of Snowdonia's most precious landscapes.

The National Trust have all sorts of events taking place so for things to do near you.

Over to Gower now where local fisherman, Tony Jones had an unexpected encounter with a family of otters. Tony was fishing at around 10.30pm on Sunday night when he heard some high pitched whistling sounds coming from the sea.

He shone his lamp in the direction of the sounds and was surprised to find a young otter in the shallows - around 3.5 feet long. He got to within a few feet of it before it swam off but heard at least two other otters calling to one another in the darkness.

are hosting a two day food festival from 14-15 May.

The festival will feature the very best food and drink that Carmarthenshire and the surrounding areas have to offer, plus talks and tours on a range of subjects, including growing your own veg, keeping bees, gathering wild food, making 'killer compost' and there will be visits down on the farm to see rare-breed lambs and Welsh Black calves.

I'm feeling a little tired today after completing two walks over the weekend. On Saturday I went to the Brecon Beacons and conquered Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn.

The weather was good - very hazy but fine and warm with just a gentle breeze.

On the way up to Corn Du.

On Sunday, I went to Llanthony Priory, climbed up onto Haterall Hill and walked along part of Offa's Dyke and then down to Capel y Ffin.

The last time I did this walk was for Weatherman Walking and I got soaked. This time round it was dry but I couldn't see much because of low cloud and fog although the sun did eventually break through and the visibility improved on our way back to the car park. Typical!

I was amazed how dry the ground is and the water level in the Upper Neuadd Reservoir seems lower than it should be which is not surprising, given how dry it's been this month.

The weather station in Llysdinam near Newbridge on Wye has only recorded 7mm of rain. They would normally expect 103mm (4 inches) in March. Mind you, there is a big change on the way...

The high pressure that has brought us all the dry weather is going to move away and a strong jet stream in the Atlantic will push low pressure towards Britain which means we'll all see some rain on Wednesday.

Beyond that the weather pattern looks more unsettled. Breezy with rain at times but with south-westerly winds, temperatures will be on the mild side with little chance of frost.

So, the dry spell is on its last legs with some welcome rain for the gardens by the middle of this week.

Derek

Fans of ´óÏó´«Ã½ One's Countryfile series will have recently seen the sad demise of Wales' tallest and joint tallest tree in Britain. Unfortunately it had to be felled due to safety concerns.

Don't despair though, as it's neighbour has recently taken the new title! The new tallest tree at Lake Vyrnwy measures 60.62 metres - not quite as tall as its 63.79 metres high predecessor but not far off.

Forestry Comission Wales Local Area Manager Mike Whitley said, ""It was a sad moment seeing the previous tallest tree in Wales being felled."

"However, it took only two days to confirm its successor, which is another Douglas fir that happens to be growing right next to the previous tree, so we didn't have to look very far."

´óÏó´«Ã½ Countryfile presenter, Julia Bradbury and the former tallest tree in Wales.

The new record holder was confirmed by David Alderman, Director of the (TROBI).

David said, "This tree is one of only seven in Wales believed to be at or around the 60m mark. At 60.62m, it is currently the tallest tree in Wales, with the second tallest being a 60.5m grand fir at Leighton Hall, near Welshpool."

It took around an hour to climb and measure the tree using the same, approved method as had previously been used and is only the third tree over 60 metres ever to be climbed in Wales.

We've been blessed with some beautiful weather this week. Yesterday the temperature at Gogerddan near Aberystwyth reached 19 Celsius, 66 Fahrenheit, making it the warmest place in Britain and warmer than Madrid where the temperature could only manage 12 Celsius, 54 Fahrenheit. Mind you, it has been hotter in the past. On March 11th 1957, Abergwyngregyn recorded 22.8 Celsius, 73 F.

Love birds in Cardiff's Roath Park, 23 March 2011 (photo: Beverley Williams, Blackwood)

Temperatures today rose to 18 Celsius at Velindre near Glasbury in Powys, the warmest March day there since 1999 but some coasts have been cooler. Only 11 Celsius in Llandudno and Pembrey with a breeze off the sea, which is still quite cold at 8 Celsius.

Over the weekend, more cloud is expected but still with some sunshine. It will turn cooler as well but apart from the odd shower in places it will be dry.

If you're in Cardiff for the football tomorrow there's a chance of a shower; the risk about 40%. So a fair chance it will be dry with a high of 15 Celsius - which is still good for this of year.

Now we've had very little rain this month. At Tredegar only 5mm. They'd normally expect to have 137mm, over five inches. There's more dry weather to come on Monday but it looks like we'll see some rain before the end of the month.

By the way, don't forget the clocks go forward by one hour on Sunday morning. That means an hour less in bed but at least the nights will be lighter!

Inflation is rising and so are temperatures!

In fact, it's the warmest day of the year so far with most of Wales basking in sunshine. A few places such as Cardiff, Monmouth, Pembrey, Tregaron and Wrexham reached 17 Celsius today, 63 Fahrenheit.

The average maximum temperature for this time of year is 11 Celsius, 52 Fahrenheit.

Mind you, the nights are still chilly and last night there was a frost in places. At Hawarden in Flintshire, the temperature fell to minus 1 Celsius, 30 Fahrenheit.

There's more fine and warm weather to come tomorrow and on Friday but over the weekend it looks like turning cooler and if you're a gardener watch out for some ground frost. The odd shower is possible in places but apart from that the outlook is dry with the best of the sunshine on Sunday.

So far this month around 24 mm has fallen which is only a 1/5th of the total average rainfall for the whole month. But it looks like the dry spell will break next week with some rain expected Tuesday into Wednesday.

Finally, here's a photo taken on the cliffs near Trefin this morning overlooking the unusually calm blue Irish sea.

Pony on the cliffs near Trefin (photo: Ann Riggs, Hayscastle)

I have been away on holiday so this is my first blog for a while. If you thought the moon looked bigger and brighter than usual over the weekend - you weren't imagining things - it was! In fact it was the and a few of you caught it on camera.

Moon by Mike Davies

Sunday night also marked the Spring Equinox which occurred at 11.21pm in the UK. The equinox refers to the moment that the sun crosses directly overhead at the Earth's equator and some people consider this to be the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere.

The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night). It means equal day and night. But in reality, the day is slightly longer than the night at an equinox.

This is because the sun is not a single point of light, but appears to be a disc. So when the centre of the sun is still below the horizon, the upper limb is already visible and emits light.

The atmosphere also refracts light downwards, so even when the upper limb of the sun is still below the horizon, its rays already reach around the horizon to the ground. This combination makes the day slightly longer than the night.

In Wales, day and night were almost equal on 17 March before the Spring Equinox.

At the North Pole, polar bears celebrated the first appearance of the sun in six months but at the South Pole the penguins are preparing for six months of darkness!

Weatherwise the next few days will be mostly dry with high pressure over us. Cloud amounts will vary from day to day but if you see some sunshine it will turn out warm with temperatures rising as high as 17 Celsius.

However, it looks like turning colder next weekend so we haven't seen the last of the frost just yet.

An exciting new boardwalk is helping to open up the great outdoors to visitors at Dinefwr Park in Llandeilo.

The 600 metre-long wooded walkway, which gives visitors easy access to special areas of the park, was opened by Iolo Williams earlier this month and is officially open to the public from Sunday, 20 March.

The boardwalk takes visitors on a journey of discovery into the heart of the park, over bogwood, streams and ancient ruins.

It's handrail-free which creates a true sense of freedom while encouraging walkers to reach out and touch the centuries-old trees, mosses and lichens.There are new viewing platforms and a jetty so that visitors can get a close view of pond wildlife.

Iolo Williams at the new boardwalk opening.

"The boardwalk is a fantastic resource which really brings nature to life and gives you the chance to get up close and personal with the environment," said Iolo.

"It's not just a lovely walkway with amazing views, you can actually get your hands dirty and feel the natural habitat under your skin."

Dinefwr Park, famous for its ancient woodland, white park cattle and fallow deer, is the only area of parkland in Wales to be designated a National Nature Reserve.

An action-packed outdoor activity programme is planned for the year ahead, ranging from den-building, tree climbing and orienteering.

A number of special activities are planned for Sunday, March 20 to celebrate the new boardwalk which is opening in partnership with the National Trust, the Wildlife Trust of South West Wales and the Welsh woodlands association Tir Coed.

Activities include 'discovery-pack' rucksacks crammed full of items to make the journey through the park fun for all the family. Among the goodies inside are torches for peering into dark crevices, magnifying glasses to help spot tiny creatures, walkie-talkies plus a sheet of activity suggestions for an afternoon of discovery. The fun starts at 11am through to 4pm.

Dinefwr is open 11am-5pm daily. Normal admission charges apply (National Trust members are free).

For more information please call 01558 823902/824512 or email Dinefwr@nationaltrust.org.uk

Everywhere we look now, we're seeing signs that winter is giving up it's grip (apologies if you've had snow up north recently) and that spring is taking hold.

The plants and wildlife on the ground are feeling it too, as adders come out of hibernation to bask in the sun, tadpoles are wriggling in the ponds and new shoots begin to sprout out of every nook and cranny.

The birds are getting feisty too as they fight for mates and territory and that golden orb in the sky feels just that little bit warmer.

I've finally unwrapped my palm tree from it's winter protection, so I hope we're frost free from here on in and before we know we'll be moving the clocks forward on 27 March... so not long to go.

Here a few of the stunning photos we've had submitted to the recently that sum up the season so far:

Blossom by Belinda Evans.

An adder basking in the sun at Parc Slip by Steve Gunter.

Frog spawn by Angela Roberts.

Fox cubs at the back of the house. Image by sandra 45 near Carmarthern.

A female goosander in Snowdonia by Jeanette Cohen.

´óÏó´«Ã½ News online have featured a nice tale about an elephant which marched through Tregaron, Ceredigion back in 1848 and promptly died there after alledgedly drinking water contaminated with lead - what a welcome to Wales that was!

But the story has led archaeologists to the beer garden of the local pub - the Talbot Hotel where the elephant is supposed to be buried. Excavations to try and find the skeleton will begin on 7 April so watch this space.

I first heard about this tale when working on the Weatherman Walking website as Derek Brockway and the team did a walk there last year through Twm Sian Cati country.

We're a nation obsessed by gardening and plants and I'm no different especially once springs arrives and the sun graces us with its presence, like it did this weekend for much of Wales.

I popped down to my local garden centre twice this weekend, partly because it's a nice place to potter and partly because I can never make up my mind what to buy - so have to go home first, refer to the books and then go back!

It's a tricky balance deciding what looks good and is practical for your garden and what is good for the environment and native wildlife you are hoping to attract.

As you browse the plants in your local garden centre take a careful look at where those plants come from as we've got serious problems in Wales currently with invasive plants destroying native species and strangling the life out of some of our more delicate ecosystems.

A new report by lists 92 species that are on the brink of becoming invasive and lists 20 sites that are considered at risk in the UK - including Lydstep Headland in the Pembrokeshire National Park, the Great Orme and even Bala Lake.

Plantlife is "calling for urgent action to be taken on plants assessed as having invasive potential should they escape 'over the garden wall', by conducting more detailed research to determine the level of threat they pose."

Some people reading this might mutter to themselves that it's only a plant and they aren't really going to affect our day to day lives but they'd be wrong.

Ecosystems are incredibly sensitive, it only takes one species to be taken out of the equation for the whole thing to be tipped on its head.

In this case it could be a particular plant or tree taking over an area preventing other species from growing which has a knock on effect for everything else, from the insects right up to the birds, mammals and fish that feed on them.

Invasive plants can also cause irritable rashes and burns to our skin and even increase the risk of flooding as drainage ditches and waterways become clogged up and let's face it - we could all do without any more flooding.

The large-flowered waterweed - popular in fish tanks is one such species that is now causing problems in our waterways, particularly in Cornwall which isn't too far away.

Rhododendron ponticum actually poisons the soil around it so other plants can't grow there and as a result, wildlife habitats diminish.

New Zealand pigmy weed is thought to be directly responsible for the loss of a native fern in Suffolk and also, the internationally important - great crested newts which have disappeared from a pond in Dorset so this is a very real problem for our native wildlife.

Anglers could also suffer as ponds and rivers become stagnated and devoid of fish life as oxygen levels drop.

The problem is so serious that in some cases, conservationists are opting to fill in ponds as soon as pigmyweed is found, in order to save other nearby ponds and streams.

"On the Great Orme, several non-native cotoneasters along with strawberry-tree, turkey oak and evergreen oak are invading areas of this internationally important limestone headland where nationally and locally threatened native plants occur."

"At Lydstep Head in Pembrokeshire, populations of the vulnerable liverwort green blackwort have declined following encroachment by the small-leaved cotoneaster microphyllus agg."

"The liverwort is now restricted to a single very narrow path on the site and removal of cotoneasteris required to prevent shading of the remaining colonies. Only a handful of sites in the UK support the liverwort."

It's worth doing some reading up on this subject though, so you're aware of what to look out for at your local fishing spot or how to dispose of plants properly.

Invasive species already cause enormous problems to our native plants and wildlife but also cost the British economy around £1.7 billion every year.

And on a purely practical level it could mean you have to do less gardening as there is nothing more frustrating that digging up Japansese knotweed!

.

Read the invasive plants article on our website.

Gull

From a meteorological point of view, it is now spring but looking back, the winter was a memorable one.

It started in late November with lots of snow before Christmas, and December was the coldest for at least 100 years.

January was chilly with lots of sunshine but February was mild and wet with some flooding in Mid Wales and the north. So overall, the winter was cold but sunnier and drier than normal with 73% of the average rainfall.

The current dry spell looks set to continue into next week thanks to high pressure. The main problem is forecasting cloud - How much and where? Will it or won't it clear? And who gets the sunshine and frost?

Take today for example - I thought it would stay cloudy along the border but the cloud vanished leaving the whole of Wales basking in the sunshine with temperatures rising to 10 Celsius in Trawsgoed.

Tomorrow will be dry again with some bright or sunny spells. However, the south east corner, Cardiff, Newport and parts of Powys and the border may stay cloudy.

So, good weather tomorrow if you're heading out to vote!

Derek Brockway

You can thank our Victorian ancestors that when it comes to St David's Day, we pin daffodils to our lapels instead of leeks.

A vegetable wasn't considered glamorous enough to be the Welsh national emblem and the daffodil, whose flowering coincides with the Welsh patron saint's holiday, seemed like a fitting replacement.

There are two varieties unique to Wales:The Tenby and Welsh daffodils.

Eddie Butler examines this and other Welsh icons in a brand new series kicking off tonight at 8pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two Wales.

Find out more about the daffodils unique to Wales in this clip from Iolo's Welsh Safari: