In the second of four ‘seasonal’ articles about the county’s natural history, photographer Tony Clarke reveals a winter’s tale.
WINTER WEATHER is becoming less and less predictable. In Derbyshire, as in the rest of the UK, the jet stream will determine whether our winters are cold, with ice and snow, or wet and stormy. What is certain, whatever the weather, is that daylight hours will continue to reduce until on the 21st December, the sun will reach its lowest point in the sky. This is the winter solstice. Although the solstice marks the lengthening of daylight hours, temperatures will continue to fall and more than likely the worst of any ice and snow is still to come. Our plants and animals are about to face the toughest time of the year…