Welcome Summer Time

Welcome British Summer Time!

This month brings the start of British Summer time - a moment when we can feel that winter is really and truly behind us and spring is finally here! This year the clocks go forward on 27th March bringing us an extra hour of light at the end of the day. The days have been growing longer for the last three months of course, since the shortest day just before Christmas. As we all know, we have seasons because the earth is tilted on its axis and here in the Northern hemisphere this tilt means we’re further away from the sun during the winter months and our days are shorted. But after the winter solstice on 21 December we begin to tilt back towards the sun and our days grow longer once more - even if very slowly at first. Indeed the word “solstice” means a standing still and during late December and early January we receive as little as a minute of an extra light each day. By early February however this has reason to three minutes every 24 hours and by the time of the spring equinox on 20 March the daylight hours are increasing by nearly four minutes each day heralding the beginning of spring and the new growing season.