Autumnal rain and equinoctal gales may have swept in at last, but Christmas is only around the corner for one Connemara holly bush.
The shrub on the shoreline near Spiddal, Co Galway, is ripe with berries – two months earlier than normal in the area.
Local resident Jimmy Keady, who spotted the bush, said he couldn't believe it when he saw it at first.
"The spiders are huge, the blackberries were also fruiting early, and these holly berries have been out for the past fortnight or so," he told The Irish Times.
“It’s something we’d expect in November, not now,” he said.
Blackberries have been out since last July, yet he had always remembered that they fruited during September, when he returned to school.
‘Somewhat early’
National Botanic Gardens curator
Pat Maher
said it was “somewhat early” for the holly to be showing colour, but not “unheard of”.
“What is unusual is the wonderful crop of haws, sloes and other berries, due to busy pollinating by bees,” Mr Maher said.
He noted the John F Kennedy arboretum in Co Wexford was reporting plentiful harvest of crab apples and wild pears.
Mr Maher said there was no scientific proof for the old adage that healthy berry crops make for a hard winter ahead.
“Berry production relates to what has happened beforehand during the pollinating season, when plants, even holly, are flowering,” Mr Maher said.
“Everything we are seeing in nature today is slightly different, because of our changing climate,” he added.
