Manager of farm on Gloucestershire-Worcestershire border says lack of rainfall this spring is 'pretty serious'
England enjoyed its sunniest March and April since records began in 1910 according to the Met Office
A manager of a farm based on the Gloucestershire-Worcestershire border says the lack of rainfall throughout the spring so far is a growing concern.
According to the Met Office, just 80.6mm of rainfall has been recorded for the UK this spring, meaning spring 2025 is currently ranking at the driest spring in over a century, the previous record low for the full season being 100.7mm, set in 1852.
Provisional Met Office statistics have also shown that England enjoyed its sunniest March and April since records began in 1910.
Jake Freestone is the farm manager for Overbury Enterprises who are based on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border near Tewkesbury, he says it is having a real impact on their crops.
“I think it’s pretty serious now to be honest,” he said.
“The weather this year has been a complete reversal from last year, we have had an exceptionally dry March, April and May, we've had about 10% of our sort of 20-year average for those three months and that's crucial at this time of year for our crops to develop and grow.
“Working on a sunny day being dry rather than alternatively a wet day and being cold miserable is something we would take every day of the week, but it is going to limit what we're able to harvest this year."
“It was a brilliant time for lambing and also a complete reversal from what we had last year, but I think this is one of the challenges we have as farmers now with the weather and how the climate is becoming very extreme and very different to what we used to see.”
England recorded its sixth driest March since records began in 1836, statistics showing that the UK recorded just 43% of its average rainfall for March.