The barley harvest got off to a stuttering start on some Suffolk farms this week - as frustrated farmers try to work out what weather is in store for them.

Intermittent rain showers have provided a very contrasting picture to the start of last year's harvest when the region - and the rest of the UK - was baking in a sweltering July heatwave.

While the 2022 scorcher meant hot conditions - and an elevated risk of field fires breaking out - it did result in an exceedingly quick harvest as dry conditions mean combines have an easier job.

One of the farms which tends to make a very early start on harvest is the Euston Estate, near Thetford, where the light land means that soils dry out quickly.

Even where there have been showers, the strong winds were drying out crops fast on the estate - meaning that the combine harvester could resume work within two or three hours of a passing shower.

And weather conditions were variable - even from field to field, said estate director Andrew Blenkiron, who is also chairman of the Suffolk branch of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

But he is pleased with the results so far - and hopes that farms in Suffolk may be in for a good year.

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"It's been lots of combining between the showers. We have been rained off a couple of times. The wind is such it blows away the showers," he said. "It's so localised you can have a shower on one field and not on another."

This year, the farm started harvest on Monday (July 10) - later than last year.

"We were well into harvest by this time last year. I would suggest we are almost two weeks late getting going with harvest."

The mixed weather patterns have meant that in some places, farmers up north are getting ahead of East Anglia, he said.

They had a dry, warm June - while in the East, a cold east wind kept temperatures down and while this region had rain in May, they didn't, he explained.

In Northumberland, one was already well into his barley combining, and another in Cumbria hadn't had rain in five weeks - although that changed this week, he said.

But where harvest is happening on his farm, the results so far are looking promising.

His seed barley crop at about 7t/ha and 13% moisture was "very good", he said.

"We have got about 200ha of winter barley to go. All that will keep us going for 10 days or so. The wheat is really coming ripe very quickly now so we could almost see those early fields of wheat following on from the barley harvest.

"I'm a little bit nervous about the wheat because it's a little bit late developing."

However, across Suffolk he was seeing some "absolutely amazing-looking" wheat on some of the heavier clay soils this year.

Weather forecasts from the Met Office were often wide of the mark when it came to localised conditions, he said.

Many farmers are consulting four or five weather apps to try and get a handle on what's in store - but British summers like this keep everyone guessing.

So although this year's cereal crop is looking promising things remain uncertain until it's safely in store.

"A week is a long time in cereal harvest in a British summer," said Andrew.