14 • 01 • 2020
Will We Experience a Meteorological Winter this Year?
The calendar has long been telling us that we are living in winter, but this season's meteorological autumn, which has broken countless heat records, is still holding on. Not only humans, but also plants and animals have to learn to live with the prolonged autumn, which is interrupted by brief moments of frost and some symbolic snow.
Even at the end of December, some animals, which needed to be hibernated, still showed activity, summer flowers were still to be spotted, and blooming spring plants had already been found; along with autumn mushrooms, there were also some spring mushrooms in forests.
It is January! Nevertheless, as you can see, the meteorological autumn does not want to give up its positions. Already in the first decade of January, hazelnuts bloomed. Persistent meteorological winter - will it happen this year? If not, there is no reason to be very upset about it. It will not be the first time that there is no real winter.
Astronomical winter is not the same as meteorological winter. Autumn must always retreat before the astronomical winter can set in. The last astronomical autumn in Latvia retreated before Christmas - on 22 December. Since then, the nights are getting shorter, but they are still long and dark.
Dzīvnieku rūpes ziemas tumšajā laikā
Animals in the dark winter
The stressful period continues for animals that are active during the light hours (the majority of birds, first of all), and the days must be used intensively. They must be able to absorb the required amount of food. They must also fight with their competitors for the best places to feed. And of course, they also need to watch out for those who would like to eat them. They all share their main concern - to survive until spring: to survive the winter, whatever it may be like.
By contrast, for most animals that love the dark time of day, twilight and night hours are still sufficient to meet all of their active basic needs. Therefore, it is relatively rare to see them during the day. However, a watchful observer might catch a glimpse of them. Both those who enjoy light and those who prefer darkness leave their traces. Traces - this does not mean just footprints in snow, mud or sand. Traces can be different, for example, left by teeth.
The prolonged autumn
Enjoy forest at any time of the year
For a typical city dweller, it might sound weird or unbelievable, but one can enjoy berry picking also in winter. There are cranberries in moss bogs that are not covered by snow.
In turn, in the woods, there are guelder-rose berries. If they have got frost, then they have lost their poison, so they are edible. Be careful though! Do not confuse guelder-rose berries with the similarly looking bittersweet nightshade, Solomon’s seal, lily of the valley, May lily berries that are also still there - they are not for human consumption.
