View from the Rear Window - September 2025 ~ Crafty Cabbage

Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable - Oscar Wilde

September brought a welcome change in the form of rain. After a period of six dry months in 2025 (March, April, May, June, July, and August), I think everyone appreciated that feeling of 'soft' rain on the skin. Temperature and sunshine levels were typical for the first month of Autumn.

The garden photo for September (Photo 1) was taken as the month drew to a close. Leaves are still predominantly green with shades of autumn colouring beginning to appear.

Photo 1: View of the Rear Garden (27th September 2025)

Daily garden photos taken from a rear window are collated in Video 1.

Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden (September 2025)

Selected weather statistics for September 2025 are summarised in Table 1. The change in season from summer to autumn was very noticeable in terms of temperature; the maximum daily temperature for September (24 ℃) being a pleasant change from the summer months (June, July & August) where the maximum daily temperature exceeded 30 ℃. Nighttime temperatures were also much cooler.

Table 1: Summary Weather Statistics for September 2025
Weather Parameter	Value	Dates
Average Monthly Temperature	14 oC
Maximum Monthly Temperature	24 oC	6th
Minimum Monthly Temperature	2 oC	22nd
Number of Air Frost Days	0
Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)	0
Monthly Precipitation	59.0 mm
Greatest 24 h Precipitation	14.0 mm	13th - 14th
Number of Dry Days	11
Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)	121
Highest Wind Speed	48 km/h	15th
Heating Degree Days	133.8
Cooling Degree Days	6.7

As Figure 1 illustrates, daytime temperatures held up well thanks to reasonable sunshine levels (Figure 2). However, in the last third of the month, those same sunny days meant much cooler overnight temperatures (Figure 1). Click on the Figure to enlarge.

Figure 1: Min/Max Daily Temperatures (September 2025)

Rain was restricted to the first 20 or so days of the month with most days experiencing some precipitation (Figure 2). The last ten days of September were much more settled with plenty of sunshine.

Figure 2: Daily Rain/Sunshine Data (September 2025)

Long-term trends, in a selection of Hereford weather parameters, for the month of September are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. The limited time series data suggests September may be getting a little cooler (Figure 3) though not without an anomaly here and there (i.e. 2021 & 2023).

Figure 3: September Temperature Data for Hereford (2020 - 2025)

Precipitation is highly variable (Figure 4). The number of dry days decreases from 2020 to 2025 indicating that September is starting to experience more unsettled weather (i.e. more showers and stronger winds).

Figure 4: September Wind, Rain & Sunshine Data for Hereford (2020 - 2025)

The next three figures are taken from the Met Office's monthly report for September 2025. Figure 5 shows the mean September temperature for the UK which was close to the average temperature for the 1991-2020 period. Since temperatures have increased over this 30-year period (due to climate change), this means September 2025 was cooler than expected for the UK generally and Herefordshire, in particular. This ties in nicely with the Hereford City data (Figure 3) from my Davis Weather Station which shows this month was the coolest September of the last six years. According to the nearby official Met Office weather station at Credenhill, the September mean temperature is 14.0 ℃, in excellent agreement with the value recorded by my back garden weather station (Table 1 and Figure 3).

Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (September 2025)

According to Figure 6, some parts of the UK (SW England, Northern England, Wales and Northern Ireland) had higher than normal precipitation while other regions (Scotland, Midlands, East Anglia and parts of Southern England) received a normal amount of rain. Herefordshire received close to its expected September rainfall, perhaps a little above normal. Historical data from the nearby Credenhill weather station reports a 30-average (1991-2020) September precipitation of 50.62 mm. Hence the 59.0 mm recorded by my Davis weather station (Table 1) was 116% of the typical September rainfall in good agreement with Figure 6.

Figure 6: UK Rainfall (relative) for September 2025

Eastern parts of Great Britain had the best of the sunshine during September 2025 (Figure 7). The remainder of the UK, including Herefordshire, had to make do with average sunshine levels (c.f. Figure 4).

Figure 7: Sunshine Hours (relative) for September 2025

Jobs in the Garden

Harvesting vegetables: tomatoes, aubergines, bell peppers, onions, potatoes, chard, spinach, beetroot, turnips, celery, marrows
Harvesting fruit: pears, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, apples
Cut back raspberry canes, make a start on pruning the hedge, de-weed the drives
Increasing composting throughput - now taking in garden waste from 10 extra gardens

Flora & Fauna in the Garden

Blue Tit (x5)
Collared Dove (x2)
Crow (x1)
Great Tit (x1)
House Sparrow (x12)

Photo 2: Here's Looking at you, Kid (29th Sept 2025)

Jackdaw (x2)
Robin (x1)
Starling (x10)
Wood Pigeon (x2) - A pair of wood pigeons built a nest in the spring-flowering cherry tree. The third wood pigeon nest in the garden this year! After a month sitting on the nest, this pair produced no offspring so possibly phantom pregnancy?