Cold and hard winter coming after common sign we've all seen in nature

Cold and hard winter coming after common sign we've all seen in nature Squirrels hoarding nuts and spiders appearing indoors are being linked to a cold UK winter As squirrels dart about and spiders invade our properties, nature might be signalling a winter unlike anything we've seen in recent years. Based on traditional folklore, Britons could be preparing for an extended, harsh winter with worrying signs emerging throughout the nation's wildlife. Many believe that particular animal behaviours can offer dependable clues about an approaching season's harshness, with the woolly bear caterpillar serving as one such indicator. The broader the brown central stripe along its back, the gentler the forthcoming winter is supposedly set to be. Nevertheless, specialists question the credibility of using a caterpillar as a meteorological oracle. Likewise, squirrels are occasionally employed to forecast whether we'll need to wrap up more heavily than normal during the approaching winter months. If you've spotted squirrels looking particularly plump at this time of year, it might suggest they're anticipating temperatures will plummet more dramatically than typical. The same interpretation applies when there's evidence of these fluffy-tailed animals stockpiling substantial amounts of nuts to sustain them through to spring. Meanwhile, spiders weaving unusually expansive webs has traditionally been associated with freezing conditions, though these are merely the handiwork of larger, fully-grown spiders. Spiders swarming into properties in droves throughout autumn and winter is also commonly blamed on multiple spider species maturing during autumn, encouraging males to roam in search of females, rendering them more visible inside homes. Additional indicators of a severe winter include bird behaviour, with traditional wisdom suggesting that migration patterns offer clues about upcoming weather conditions, which birds are believed to sense naturally. While it's true that birds can detect approaching storms through changes in atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity, as well as detecting infrasound, early migration southwards isn't nature's way of alerting us to impending cold spells. Astronomical winter in the UK is set to begin on December 21, running through to late March, according to the Met Office, though from a meteorological perspective, winter's first day is always December 1, ending on February 28 or 29 in leap years.