A keen gardener has a spring in his step - because his daffodils have flowered in August.

Peter Schofield, 70, of Waltham Street, Barnsley, said the flowers came and went as usual at the end of spring.

"They all died off months since. All the leaves had gone. Then suddenly, another flower popped up last week. Then on Sunday, a second one came out. I couldn't believe it."

He said he wasn't sure whether he would see daffodils at all this year following the harsh winter. Daffodils usually flower between late February and April.

Michael Baxter, of the Daffodil Society, said: "I've never known of them flowering at this time of year, not in this country. I can only think they could have been varieties brought up from the southern hemisphere."

Leigh Hunt, a Royal Horticultural Society gardening advisor, said: "It is certainly very unusual. Over a period of about ten years, we're only aware of about six cases nationally."

He said he believed it was likely there was some 'Mediterranean parentage' in the genes of the plant. Unusual weather patterns would also have played their part. "We have had rather strange weather, very hot and dry, but then more recently quite a lot of rain. The weather we have been having is not dissimilar to that in the Mediterranean, where there are quite a lot of late flowering species."