It's official - spring has arrived in England (Pic and Text Heavy)

[cherylim]

So, I'd heard today might get up to tortoise temperatures. I got up nice and early this morning, was out mountain biking by about 9am and it was warm but grey. Towards the end of my ride it started raining, and I thought there'd be no chance of getting Emrys outside for the first time this year.

Sat indoors for the morning, but kept running out to check the thermometer. It was still grey, and things weren't looking good. Then, about two hours ago the sun came out. I wasn't optimistic, but followed it out ten minutes later and temperatures were just about high enough!

Got Emrys outside for about 30-45 minutes in his new enclosure before we had to give up and come inside. In that time, I took over eighty pictures. I'm sharing a few, but they're not great. Mostly overhead shots. It was just so nice seeing him outside again, grazing and stomping around. You can see how happy it makes him, exploring the garden.

Also, whilst we were out, I heard a very loud 'thud'. I had to go and explore. By the fact that there had been no noise beforehand, the 'thud' was so loud and then I found this guy in the middle of the garden, I can only assume he fell from the sky. Cute, though!

 

[wellington]

JEALOUS We have having snow today, yuck. Glad you were able to get out. Love the pics of your tort and the frog

 

[GBtortoises]

Spring will be here in New York State too-in about 2 months!

 

[tortuga_please]

Ha he has a ton of room in his grassy jungle

 

[cherylim]

Ha he has a ton of room in his grassy jungle

Jungle is the word! We really do need to get the lawnmower out, but we weren't expecting warm enough weather until May.

 

[Jacob]

Awesome, what kind of grass is that?

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

Yummy grass num num num! lol Great pics

 

[Zamric]

Nice pics! Welcome Spring! (even if it is tempoary!)

 

[ada caro]

really beautiful and the grass awesome.

 

[cherylim]

Awesome, what kind of grass is that?

There are different kinds of grass?

In that case, I believe this is....

Common, general, lawny green grass.

 

[Angi]

Your yard is very pretty, so nice and green. I love finding frogs and toads in the yard. Today it is summer here. It is so nice to see everything blooming.

 

[cherylim]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. Another picture I took, just a general one, but I think the beauty only really shows up in full resolution:

 

[tyler0912]

Is the weather suppose to get high over the weekend?
Great pictures...hope i can get the kids out here too!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Nice!

 

[JoesMum]

Down in the south of England we had spring start yesterday and Joe was out stomping and sniffing round the garden in several hours of sunshine. It was a beautiful day. We have our first crocuses in flower in the garden.

The weather was more over-cast down here today, but still warm.

As for the grass... that's standard English lawn grass. It looks lovely and lush at this time of year and then dreadful as it dries out in summer. My part of England is officially in drought now as we have had so little rain over the last 18 months and the lawn has taken a battering. There's still a lot of dead stuff. With the reservoirs only 40% full, and our water metered, we won't be allowed to water it.

I noticed on holiday in the US that your lawns seem to be made of a coarser grass with much wider blades.

 

[cherylim]

Down in the south of England we had spring start yesterday and Joe was out stomping and sniffing round the garden in several hours of sunshine. It was a beautiful day. We have our first crocuses in flower in the garden.

The weather was more over-cast down here today, but still warm.

As for the grass... that's standard English lawn grass. It looks lovely and lush at this time of year and then dreadful as it dries out in summer. My part of England is officially in drought now as we have had so little rain over the last 18 months and the lawn has taken a battering. There's still a lot of dead stuff. With the reservoirs only 40% full, and our water metered, we won't be allowed to water it.

I noticed on holiday in the US that your lawns seem to be made of a coarser grass with much wider blades.

I always think US grass looks nicer than ours. Was surprised at all the comments saying ours looks nice!

Yeah, I think yesterday was a much better day here as well, but I was stuck in the office all day.

Tyler - my usually very reliable weather app says we can expect good temperatures again on Sunday. Tomorrow won't be bad, but probably a bit too cold.

 

[dmarcus]

Glad to hear Emrys was able to enjoy the sun today...

 

[itsmeshell]

Hay
I live in the uk at what temp do you put your tort outside? I always get scared its to cold

Shell

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Well I live in New England and woke up to a snow storm, waaa!! Great pics though, I am happy for you and Emrys.

 

[JoesMum]

Hay
I live in the uk at what temp do you put your tort outside? I always get scared its to cold

Shell

As long as it's sunny Joe goes out at 12C+

His favourite basking spots get quite warm in direct sun even if the air temp isn't that high. I'll keep an eye on him though and if he starts to dig in, he comes back inside.

Yesterday we had 18C high and he was out for about 5 hours before he started to dig in.