And the drought goes on.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I think the rainfall situation is starting to get quite concerning. Down here we've had very little rainfall for the past two months and there is nothing substantial that I can see for the coming week (maybe next weekend?.....) It is the same across many central and south western areas too.

see environment agency report

In my own garden a lot of plants are showing signs of lack of water - some already losing leaves! We've had a number of fires locally too. I love this weather but its not how it should be!

Anyone know what is happenning with the fires in Crowthorne/Swinley forest? My family live there and apparently there is talk of evacuation.

am keeping upto date via facebook will keep u posted befuzzled. im in bracknell x

befuzzled seen pics and looks nasty apparently lots of thick black smoke in crowthorne as far as i can make out no one has been evacuated yet

LadybeagleEyes wow @ those pics. Your friend is v talented. Awesome, but so scary!

Published 2 May 2011 09:30 9 Comments
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FIREFIGHTERS are at the scene of a series of serious forest fires in Crowthorne.

The blazes are in woodland near the TRL building and police have shut part of Nine Mile Ride and the B3348 as eye witnesses report of heavy smoke across the roads and properties.

There are a series of fires on both sides of Nine Mile Ride and it is believed that, with high winds, they are spreading towards the direction of Wokingham.

Roy Cheesman, who lives in Brookers Corner, near the B3348, said he and his son spotted a fire when they went for a walk about noon. He later found out there were other fires in the area.

He said he was not particularly worried at this stage but added there was thick smoke.

"Nine Mile Ride is covered in thick black smoke. It's billowing across.

Lots of fire engines and water tankers rushed to the scene. The police helicopter is co-ordinating things from above," he added.

"There are palls of smoke coming across our back gardens. There are very severe wind and it's whipping around, so it is very difficult for the firefighters to control the fires."

The cause of the fires has not yet been confirmed.

More details to follow.

thanks mf

My mum lives in the area and is away on holiday so am just slightly concerned about house and cats etc

I well recall the long summer of 1976 - that was the year DC1 was born, at around this time of year. Fortunately the house we lived in then, as is the house we live in now, one of those where it's cooler inside than out. I remember having to stay indoors during the day, but then venturing out in the cool of the evening along with DH once he had come home from work.

Over on the weather newsgroup, there seems to be two differing views about the upcoming weather, both knowledgeable weather-interpreters. One is going for a trough coming in at the weekend and giving some rain. The other is seeing a continuance of the block, with hot, dry air coming from continental Europe.

As always, there's speculation about global warming, but there has been long-lasting blocking before, interpersed with wet and cool summer conditions. I'd prefer the usual zonal pattern of a few days hot'n'dry followed by a few days cool'n'rain. I think one of the problem we have here is that British weather traditionally is changeable and we don't have the physical and emotional means to cope easily with static weather conditions.

Anyway, it's all our fault. We had a garden makeover recently, including installing a water butt. Jinx or what?

sorry all for cut and paste!

Can't see much smoke now (I'm in Wokingham) so it looks like it's more under control.
Someone posted a link to some pics on the Bracknell news website -here

bone dry here in north yorks - hasn't really rained for 2 months. One day it spat temptingly but was blown away. Ground is like concrete - i haven't been out of a trot on dmare for an age.
Farmers all very anxious - potatoes haven't sprouted, rape is nearly finished flowering but on small stalks and this years hay crop is going to be a disaster - aargh

befuzzled brookers corner has been evacuated dont kno if that helps

Can't see your link, Rusty. Here's another one, which was slow loading:

www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/ascot/articles/2011/05/01/51823-firefighters-work-through-night-as-blaze-spreads-through-trees/

OYBK, I used to live an hour east ish from there as well

thanks rusty not good at links. my house backs onto swinley forest cant see anything here in forest park but thats becoz the wind is heading it towards crowthorne

The rapeseed round here is doing very well despite the lack of rain. I'm glad for the farmers but I wish it wasn't since it's a trigger for my son's asthma I think.

huggly - tis def your fault!!
heard about the ninemile ride fire on the radio, also could see a lot of smoke when we were driving past Reading this evening.

Kitten, I'd chuck the water butt, and the trellis, and the carefully planted climbing plant if it would help. My gardening DH might have to wrestle me to the ground to prevent that, though.

I know that over in the US there's been a change in policy in dealing with forest fires, in terms of pushing it away from built-up areas rather than zapping it completely, and letting it burn out as nature intended. The problem is that here we have the situation in areas where the fire isn't always superficial but can get to the underlying peat layers.

In areas in the US that are prone to fires, most people know the rules. We don't have the same here in the UK because this mostly isn't an annual occurence.

oooh ladybeagle, how strange! One of my friends was right there this weekend and has just been telling me all about it on FB. Glad you're safe and well.

The weather expert said today he looked through all the records and whenever we have a very warm April, the summer is a complete washout So make the most of it

That does concern me a bit sneezecake - nature seems to have a way of rebalancing itself.

huggly - the peat aspect has been really intriguing me, I didnt know there was so much about still until reading news articles about the different fires, where it keeps cropping up as being an important driver. Very interesting :)

yay - discussion of the day

Agreed sneezecake. We had a lovely Easter like this in 2007. I was pregnant, as I am now. I was dreaming of a lovely summer enjoying my Mat leave and my new baby.
It started raining in July and didn't stop. 2 weeks before DD was born Sheffield flooded causing Huge problems for my family who live there. The day DD was born the south flooded and FIL spent 10 hours on the M5. We sent him photos of DD, he sent us photos of cars floating past him on the opposite carriageway.

I'm not holding out much hope for a nice summer this year.

2006 warm April GREAT summer iirc

"2006 warm April GREAT summer iirc"

2007 warm, dry April, summer a total washout. I work in Sheffield and couldn't get to work for several days due to floods. Even Meadowhall was flooded.

We had rain in the NE last night. Not for long but heavy while it was here. It looks very grey atm and dd1 has a school trip so she is not going to be pleased.