IN more than 50 years of keeping records, weather watcher and farmer Derek Small, says that he has never known a month like February.

It was the wettest February in the Tenbury and Ludlow area since he began keeping records at his farm in Little Hereford more than half a century ago.

Mr Small says the wet autumn and winter has also been devastating for farmers in the area resulting in lost crops and an inevitable loss of income.

During February which saw severe flooding in Tenbury and Ludlow, Mr Small said that there was more than 170mm or seven inches of rainfall.

It was only the fourth time since the 1970’s that the February rainfall has been more than 100mm or four inches.

The previous highest for the month was 130mm which is just over five inches.

February’s deluge was the latest in a period of heavy rainfall. Since September only one month, January, had anything like average rainfall.

“In the past six month we have had 12 months’ worth of rain,” said Mr Small.

“In all the time that I have been keeping records February has always been a relatively dry month and so have March, April and July.”

He said that the fields in the area are like a bog and there are serious issues for farmers.

Crops sown in the autumn have simply had to be left to rot in the fields.

In a typical year now would be the time to sow spring crops like barley but Mr Small says that it will hardly be worth doing so.

“There will be so much spring barley that it will hardly be worth anything.”

His plan is to leave his fields fallow until the autumn when all being well he will plant spring crops.

Mr Small, who for many years did monthly weather reports for the ‘Advertiser,’ says that there is a clear trend for it to be getting wetter and milder.

Environmental campaigners believe changes in the weather can be directly attributed to climate change.