This winter is likely to have been the sunniest in records dating back nearly 90 years, the Met Office has said.
The winter has seen fairly average temperatures and rainfall - unlike
last winter which was the wettest on record - but 2015 is on track to be the sunniest in records stretching back to 1929.
By 25 February, with three days left to go of the meteorological winter, the UK had already seen 189 hours of sunshine, equalling the previous record year in 2001.
The Met Office predicts that with sunshine in the last three days of winter, the UK is likely to beat the record by seven hours.
Unlike last year’s wet and stormy winter, the season this year has recorded just 8% more rainfall than the long term average, with 375 mm (14.8in) of rain across the UK, with the southern, eastern and north eastern areas of England drier than usual.
But in Scotland the winter has been one of the top 10 wettest in records dating back to 1910, the Met Office said.