THE weather really is going haywire. Britain’s gardeners are reporting the first signs of a “phantom spring” in the midst of one of the warmest Octobers on record.

Shoots of spring flowers are pushing out of the soil in England and in the even-warmer climes of the Channel Islands primroses and dog violets are blooming. Botany experts say it is likely that lilac and apple trees will be blossoming next month.

Tony Kirkham, head of the arboretum at Kew Gardens, southwest London, said: “This kind of weather is very confusing for plants. Some trees will blossom as a last-minute fling before the winter and some flowers come up because they are getting such mixed messages from the weather. It makes it look like spring has come early.”

The warm October has been a boon for gardeners, who are enjoying roses, crocuses and and rhododendrons in bloom. But many are bewildered by the buds on the trees and the shoots of spring bulbs also appearing.

Marion McMillan, a keen gardener from Hinckley, Leicestershire, said: “It’s as if everything seems to be still in season but yet out of season. I planted a small clematis and it’s just taking off against a wall.

“I’ve got a pot of daffodils showing and they were only planted a month ago. The only problem is that the greenflies are still thriving on my rose bushes.”

Last year, gardeners reported a “phantom spring” in early November. Reports on a BBC website included red admiral butterflies, trees in blossom and flowering violets. Meteorologists say that the warming climate means the phenomenon is likely to become common.

The possible impact of rising temperatures on the British mainland can be seen from the experiences of the Channel Islands where it was reported last week that spring flowers on Guernsey were in bloom.

Bridget Ozanne, botany secretary for La Société Guernesiaise, a natural history society, said: “Some primroses are already out in the south of the island and we didn’t used to see them until December. We have also seen sea thrift pink, which is normally a spring flower.”

The warmer weather means berries are fruiting earlier. Experts warned Christmas holly is less likely to have berries because they will have been eaten by the birds.

The longer autumn has caused some problems for nature-lovers. Richard Hobbs, 51, chairman of the Norfolk & Norwich Horticultural Society, said: “The oaks haven’t even lost their leaves. Every year I teach a course called ‘winter identification of trees’ and it’s always held on the same weekend in October, but not a tree has lost a leaf yet. This time last year they had almost all gone.

“We are still eating raspberries, they are going on and on. We haven’t got any autumn colour at all in Norfolk really.”

It is not just trees and plants that are being affected. Some species are expanding their territory while it has also affected the migratory patterns of birds.

A tropical species of cricket, the long-winged cone-head, was in the last century confined to stretches of coast from Dorset to Sussex. But with the warmer weather, it has crossed the Thames and reached Cambridgeshire. Sand lizards, also once confined to the south, are marching north.

Other species are just confused. Brian Eversham, director of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, said: “There is a species of slug called the yellow slug which I have been studying for 15 years and every year the young emerge in December.

“This year for the first time it was the beginning of September because the drought during the summer and the first rains in August had confused them.”

Scientists say the warmer weather is evidence of long-term global warming. Last year was the hottest on record. The five months from May to September were the warmest in Britain since records began in 1659. July 2006 was the warmest month ever and it was also the hottest September.

The first two weeks of October were among the warmest on record, but it is not expected to last. Temperatures are set to drop this week and there may even be a frost in Scotland.

Hotspots

• The average temperature for October to date is 13.2C, more than 2C above average
  
  
• Brighton and Bournemouth have enjoyed one of their longest summer seasons, with sunbathers still soaking up the rays in mid-October.
  
  
• Retailers have said that the unseasonably warm weather has hampered sales of coats and woollen clothes
  
  
• Primroses and other spring flowers are blooming on the Channel Islands
  
  
• Yellow slugs in Northamptonshire are reproducing three months early because warm weather has confused them
  
  
• High temperatures have not kept away the rain. The Environment Agency issued 11 flood alerts in the first 10 days of October

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