JANUARY and February have been exceptionally wet months in Ledbury, but the town's daily rainfall record is a long way from being surpassed.

On July 20, 2007, Ledbury was cut off by floods, but so far this winter the town has escaped serious flooding problems; and keen amateur weather-watcher, Norman Selkirk, has the statistics to show why.

Since 1983, Mr Selkirk has been faithfully recording local weather, and his books show that over four inches of rain fell in just seven hours on Ledbury in 2007, compared with just over nine inches from the start of January 2014 to Tuesday, February 11.

He said: "In 2007, it came in an exceptional burst, and the rain didn't have time to drain into the soil, because it came with such intensity."

Curiously, the freak 2007 rain cloud also came from a slightly different direction, from the south, compared with the series of low pressure depressions the UK is now experiencing, from the south west.

The Ledbury area is also fortunate that rainfall in 2014 has been slightly less that the rain experienced further south, such as on the Somerset levels.

In January, the south of England, below Ledbury, experienced 175mm of rain, whereas 168.5mm fell on Ledbury - or 6.63 inches.

So far in February, according to Mr Selkirk's figures, 2.5 inches of rain has fallen on the town, or 63.5mm.

"It has been exceptionally wet," said Mr Selkirk, of Albert Road

"It has been the wettest for January that I have recorded in Ledbury since 1983."

Average precipitation for the county in January is just short of one inch, or 25.4mm, and slightly less than that for February.

With so much rain about - six times the norm for January, the River Leadon, off Ledbury bypass, has been repeatedly flooding the Riverside Walk beauty spot.

But the little river has not flooded over the bypass, something which it did manage to do on July 20, 2007.

These images, taken of the Leadon in spate this week, are by the local photographer, Barry Tweed-Rycroft.