Forecasters warn that the rest of the summer is set to be a washout and hopes of an Indian summer are now fading.

	Ripe blackberries and mushrooms are appearing, more than a month ahead of the official start of autumn

Such wet conditions, combined with warmer average temperatures brought about by climate change, confuse plants into thinking that Keats's season of "mists and mellow fruitfulness" has already arrived.

Hedgerows are already studded with ripe blackberries and mushrooms are springing up in the woods, more than a month ahead of the official start of autumn, the September 23 equinox.

At the Westonbirt National Arboretum in Gloucestershire and the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, southwest London, trees such as Beeches and Spindles are already on the turn.

Owen Davies, of the Forestry Commission which runs Westonbirt, said leaves begin to turn as temperatures drop, but added the wet weather could also be blamed for breeding diseases that discolour leaves.

"The leaf is the food factory of the tree and so as the nights draw in and the temperatures start to fall, the tree realises autumn is approaching," he said.

"Since trees do not grow during this period, the factory closes down and the leaves begin to die."

Travel agents said the disappointing weather has generated an increase of up to 30 per cent in bookings, as Britons fly away in search of sunshine.

"There's always an element of this in August but this year, people are clearly desperate to get away from the rain," said Sean Tipton, of the Association of British Travel Agents.

Ian Johnson, of the National Farmers Union, said the early arrivals showed that summer in the traditional sense is no longer.

"The seasons seem to be extending - you get a spring/summer for two months and then you're right into autumn for three or four months," he said.

Despite their ability to adapt to the changing climate, he said, farmers are now praying for a brief let up in the deluge.

"They really do need a sustained period of sunshine now," he said. "It's frustrating for them having to watch their crops rotting in the fields with all this rain.

"A bit of good weather is long overdue."

Jonathan Powell, senior weather forecaster at Positive Weather Solutions, said that while there could still be a few brighter days, on the whole "that really is it for summer 2008".

"Our attention is turning to September and the hope of a last gasp, but even that now is looking distinctly unfavourable, with yet again the Atlantic considerably influencing our weather," he said.

Aislinn Simpson

Telegraph

Comments (2)

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strange summer
written by nomade , August 15, 2008

I have acquired a plot on an allotment last year completely covered in brambles. I really sarted cultivating only this year with no prior knowledge or experience of plants.
I have a large surface still covered with the original brambles (blackberries) but this has behaved entirely differently from last year: last year the brambles remained in bloom non-stop (always new flowers coming up) and therefore has been buzzing with bumblebees for months (approx. May to October).
This year it had a very short blooming period (no new flowers coming up many times after the first bloom) and has been now long without any flowers and obviously, sadly, without any
bumblebees (totally absent from my plot this year by the way...).In the same
way, comfrey, another plant attractive to bees and bumblebees has hardly
flowered at all this year (little flowers looking yellow instead of purple, and old before
reaching maturity).
Having no botanical experience and little knowledge I don't know if one year
can be so very different from the previous one but I am very concerned because I
had been looking forward all winter to having my plot buzzing with
pollinating insects and it is rather silent this summer. I have planted as many
nectar plants plants as I could so I still have various species of bees, but not in very
large numbers.
Also a tree near where I live indeed has had its leaves turning yellow in mid-August. "

...
written by Womble_Lancs , August 20, 2008

My loganberry seems to be very confused too. I have ripe berries on some branches, but other branches have flowers which are just budding. Very weird indeed.

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