Oak before ash

Oak leaves are opening out, and flowers too.

The oak and the ash are traditionally the last trees to come into leaf, and it varies from year to year which comes first. This year the oaks seem a week or two ahead of the ash trees, which are only just starting to turn green round here.

There's a well-known country saying 'Oak before ash and we're in for a splash, ash before oak and the summer?s a soak'.

I know farmers and gardeners want a good soak, but I'd settle for a splash.