I have always been fascinated with the ability some people have with predicting weather simply by observing nature. We all know if ants start getting very busy and moving to high ground rain in coming and watching smoke from a fire – if it goes straight up it will be clear but if it stays low and spreads outwards possible rain. A ring around the moon is also said to indicate rain.

My step father spent years as a driver and living with Aborigines when he was young and could pick the weather like nothing else. I will always remember one day he spent about five minutes in the back yard and told me the next day would be clear windy around lunch and showers in the afternoon and clear up again. He was spot on. I asked him how he knew and he told me from watching the birds.

The world is an amazing place and we can learn a lot from nature. I am keen to hear from others about natural signs to look for in predicting any weather phenominon.