AH, the Great British Weather. Discussing it is a national obsession, but then we have so much of it in these exposed, sea surrounded isles. The divination of the weather, before the science of meteorology, was often based on ancient folklore and proverbs concerning the behaviour of the animals in the field or in the wild. Now that we have the Met Office-other weather forecasters are available-all the silly old saws can be dumped in the bin of superstition. Or can they? Animal-science research has come back to bite the sceptics. Some animals do seem to be weather forecasters. If they can predict the weather, should you stop watching the weather person on television and start watching the birds in the sky instead?
'If a cow lies down, rain is coming'
There is an entire herd of proverbs concerning bovines as barometers, with the most common being 'if a cow lies down, rain is coming'. An udderly ridiculous saying? Scientific rumination on this farmers' favourite aphorism by the universities of Arizona and Northwest Missouri in the US suggests it may have a leg to stand on. The reason? A tenuous link between crouching cattle and wet weather: cattle tend to remain upright longer when their bodies overheat, so a standing Shorthorn could arguably mean a scorcher a-coming, whereas a seated Simmental suggests a cool front on the way -as cool weather frequently precedes rain. If cows lie down when the air is cooling, they secure a dry patch of grass that keeps their stomach warm and this aids their milk production. Not so stupid, cows.
There is, therefore, a correlation between rain and the behaviour of cows and (some) truth to the tale. Alas, cows lie down for all sorts of reasons, so a field of reclining Red Poll or lying-down Limousin is not necessarily a signal to don a mac.
'Frogs croak more loudly when it's about to rain'
Esta historia es de la edición May 15, 2024 de Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
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A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
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We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
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Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
