A Week on the Estate: Storm Eunice, Snowdrops Abound & Citrus Gin
We hope this week’s blog finds you safe, warm and dry. At the time of writing, we’re tidying up after Storm Dudley’s midweek antics just in time to welcome Storm Eunice on Friday. The Met Office has taken the unusual step of issuing a red weather warning for the south-western UK where Eunice will make landfall. Wind speeds in Cornwall and Devon could exceed 90mph, but the storm will have enough energy left to warrant an amber warning for Lincolnshire with gusts up to 65mph and sub-zero windchill.
Life on the Estate thrives undaunted by the mid-Atlantic weather. Wherever we look, flora and fauna seem primed to burst into life, led as ever by the snowdrops. Our woodlands are strewn with these heralds of spring, mimicking a smattering of fresh snow among the roots and leaf litter.
The snowdrop (Galanthus) thrives in our grounds, generally emerging and flowering in January or February and always well before the vernal equinox. Snowdrops appear delicate but, given a healthy habitat, are remarkably hardy. They thrive in their cold-weather niche because they’re able to perennate, a process by which they endure hostile conditions by banking nutrients in tough, underground bulbs.
