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The second weekend of March was spring-like across the whole country with a good deal of sunshine particularly across western areas and Scotland. This was reflected on the ‘migration start’ map of Bayer Pollen Beelte Predictor where six met stations turned red – indicating migration started – over the weekend. These were Dingwall and Huntly in Scotland, Swansea and Haverfordwest in Wales and Launceston and Plymouth in the South West of England.

Half a dozen met stations also turned yellow; Leuchars and Perth in Scotland, Alnwick and Coldstream in the Borders and Nantwich and Warrington in the North West of England. Migration is expected to start in these localities within a few days.

Rothamsted researcher Dr Sam Cook says that once migration has begun growers should focus on the ‘new migration’ map. “This tells you when it’s time to get into crops and assess average numbers against threshold. It helps to focus monitoring effort to when it’s most needed and facilitate practical use of thresholds.”

BBC Weather is forecasting a settled week ahead with temperatures continuing to range either side of 10 centigrade thanks to the current area of high pressure over the British Isles, which is forecast to continue until the weekend. Although this general outlook is too cool to favour widespread migration, some areas – particularly in the West again – are expected to enjoy some warm spells in the mid-teens centigrade. Dr Cook therefore expects to see more met stations on the ‘migration start’ map turn yellow or red by the spring equinox next Sunday 20^th March.

To access Bayer Pollen Beetle Predictor click on: http://www.bayercropscience.co.uk/tools-and-services/agronomy-online-tools-and-services/pollen-beetle-predictor/