Laura Cummings: Summer's washout has left a dark cloud over us all

MOST people would agree that this summer has been a bit of a non-starter.

There were a few days of sporadic sunshine, with many flocking to Portobello beach or pulling out the garden chairs from the shed to make the most of it, but we've had more than our fair share of gloomy weather.

Statistics from the Met Office tell the story. Edinburgh recorded the highest amount of July rainfall - 125.8mm - since recordings were first taken at Gogarbank in 1999.

Meanwhile, West Lothian and Midlothian experienced more than double the average rainfall during the same month.

Heavy summer rainfall can have wide implications. For a start, the population of garn birds such as sparrows and robins can drop dramatically as a result of cold, wet weather.

Species policy officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in Edinburgh, Keith Morton, explains: "If you get sustained periods of wet weather and low temperatures, it can have an effect on the availability of insects, and that may reduce the number of young garden birds that survive.

"The wet weather, especially the cooler wet weather, causes them to die off a bit earlier than they would have.

"The effect will be much greater if it happens when the chicks are in the nest; once they have fledged, they can deal with it a bit better."

Although Mr Morton said it was too early to judge the implications of this summer's weather on the local bird population, he expressed concerns about the population of small birds such as wrens, blue tits and robins, which rely on insects for food .

He adds: "If we get a sustained, severe winter, birds that are small and birds that depend to a large extent on insects will have a tough time.

"If there is a lack of food in the spring, a cool summer and a cold winter in the one year, you will get a dip in the population."

Last year, the British Trust for Ornithology warned that another wet summer could lead to a 50 per cent decline in robins and other garden birds this year, but the full impact of the summer's weather will not be known until later in the year when bird surveys are carried out.

It's not just bird life that's adversely affected by poor weather. Plants can suffer too.

Pete Brownless, a garden supervisor at the city's Royal Botanic Garden, says: "Anybody who is a keen rose or geranium grower will frequently find that the flowers become almost mummified when the rain gets into them, because the plants have upwards-facing flowers.

"On average, on wet days you get less flying insects so you don't get as much pollination."

Mr Brownless, who has worked at the gardens for 25 years, also warns of fungal diseases, such as botrytis, which proved a big problem last year.

"When it's raining, but the temperature is quite warm like it has been, it does set off all kinds of fungal diseases which cause the plants to go rotten," he said.

Another effect of the poor summer could show up as a conker shortage.

The Campaign For Real Conkers said many had fallen from trees before they were ripe enough to be used for the popular pastime, with this year's conker season likely to be delayed as a result.

Spokesman Keith Flett, 53, said: "Normally conker games would be in full swing by now but there is a real shortage of serviceable conkers.

"The conkers are nowhere near ripe enough yet and people won't be able to get their practice in. When you whack a conker before it is ripe, it will crumble to bits."

The hope is that this year will see a much milder winter than the freezing blizzards of last year.

If not, it won't just be festival crowds and barbecue fans praying for sunshine next summer.

'IT WILL PROBABLY BE NORMAL SCOTTISH WEATHER'

FOLLOWING the severe winter weather last year, nobody could be blamed for fearing a repeat of the big freeze in 2010.

With the Met Office no longer providing seasonal forecasts, it's difficult to predict what the winter months have in store for Edinburgh and the Lothians.

But according to Pete Brownless, a garden supervisor at the city's Royal Botanic Garden, we may well be in for a much milder winter.

"I think after last winter, where the temperatures were pretty low, this winter will probably go back to more normal Scottish weather - a little bit of frost, a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain right the way through," he says.

"Over the last 25 years at the gardens, on average we have had three of these very cold winters spaced out through that period, and each time the winter afterwards has been quite a mild one."