2 hours more daylight
Anybody who walks (a dog perhaps) first thing or last thing will have noticed longer days. It seems like around 5pm now, or even later, when the light fades, especially on a clear day. Gardeners will have noticed this too!
If you pick up some winter twigs and put them in a glass of water indoors, you will start to see buds appearing earlier than outside, which is a great way of learning to identify winter twigs! Here is a picture of a willow twig. The Woodland Trust have an ID chart to learn more about winter twigs here.
In terms of the number of days since the solstice, early February is actually the same as early November or even late October. That is the time of year when we put the clocks back. Although it will be another 6 weeks or so before we put them forward on the 27th March!
If you are really into such things, you might already know there are differences between civil twilight, nautical twilight and astronomical twilight! Take a look at this website. We already have 2 more hours of possible daylight in a day than at the winter solstice! Unbelievable eh?
