August 18 - Day 118 - If rowan berries are out in force, then a harsh winter is on the way

I’ve seen this rowan tree or mountain ash for the last couple of days as I approached Owlerbar but didn’t think it was a good idea to stop in the mist and drizzle. Today, the sun was out a little so I took the opportunity to take a picture of the tree with its amazing berries.

I can remember my Mum saying about berries from me being very young but I think, from what I’ve read, that the berries are more to do with early periods of sun than they are predictors of winter. The rowan tree does have a long tradition in folklore as a protector rather than a predictor. With its five pointed star on each berry and the colour red, people would carry pieces of the tree to ward off witches and if it was close to a house, extra care would be taken not to damage it. Crosses have often been made from rowan wood and in the highlands the only bit of tree that could be used was the berries - which I didn’t realise could be made into a bitter jam, wine, spirit or ale.

So - if the rowan is not able to tell us how close winter is or how bad it is going to be, we could always just look at the calendar. Or, we could always refer to some of the other signs of a harsh winter ahead like thicker skins on onions, spiders spinning larger webs and entering the house in greater numbers, ants walking in a straight line, geese leaving early (I can’t help with this one as my favourite family of geese seemed to leave several weeks ago) or perhaps just checking whether there is thicker hair on a cow’s neck. Now, given my fear of walking in the same field as cows (given my past experiences with being pinned against a wall and trying to get over a barbed wire fence to get away from a stampeding herd), I’d rather just leave that idea and wait and see what happens. After all, the heated socks are ready when needed!