In the UK pollen from different plants appears in the air at different times of the year. For example, grass pollens are generally found from mid-June to mid-July. Tree pollens tend to be released in the spring. However, this is not always the case.

Annual variation
If you know the pollen (or pollens) that is your airborne allergy trigger, you can obtain information on the time that this pollen is likely to be a problem at websites such as http://uk.weather.com/activities/health/. Academic institutions predict when plants are set to release pollen by monitoring flowering patterns. These vary, of course, in different parts of the country. The south of England’s seasons tend to start before those in the north of Scotland.

Changing pollen seasons
Researchers at the University of Worcester's NPARU, who provide the local pollen count, have noticed a change in the traditional season for grass pollen. The season for grass pollen, the most common hayfever trigger, used to last for about five weeks, from mid-June to mid-July. In recent years the season has grown, lasting from late May to mid August. Scientists say that this changing pattern applies across the UK.

Go to weather.co.uk for up to date, daily pollen count information >

Travelling to far flung parts can provide relief from airborne allergies as familiar airborne triggers are left behind. However, travel can provide fresh problems and challenges to the hayfever sufferer.

Different pollen seasons: climate effects on pollen seasons
Just as pollen seasons differ slightly between the north and the south of the UK, so within Europe there are variations. For example, in most years the grass pollen season in the Mediterranean commences in March. For a person suffering from grass allergy, a spring holiday in the Mediterranean and a summer at home could mean suffering two hayfever seasons in one year.

New allergy triggers: unfamiliar pollens
Travelling to warmer regions can expose hayfever sufferers to unusual allergy triggers. A bout of hayfever could occur when on holiday because of the sheer quantity of a pollen compared to home. For example, a woman living in a British city may be unaware that an earlier encounter with a tree which is unusual in the UK, such as an Italian cypress, has produced antibodies and made her allergic to that particular pollen. This allergy poses no problems until a spring holiday to the Mediterranean exposes her to vast quantities of cypress pollen in the air, reawakens the allergy and produces a hayfever attack.

Another way in which hayfever can disrupt a holiday is sensitisation acquired abroad. For example, a student spends a few months teaching English in a Greek village, enjoying the food, the wine and walks in the olive groves. Exactly one year later, he returns for a short holiday to meet up with his Greek friends and within hours of arrival is struck by severe hayfever. Why? He had no problems in the same month last year. The cause of the problem is that people are only allergic to substances that the body has encountered before - that the immune system recognises. During his first visit he was exposed to olive pollen for the first time in his life and became sensitised to it. It is now, for him, an allergy trigger.

How your body reacts to allergy >

Since travel can expose you to unexpected allergy triggers and seasons, it is sensible to take hayfever treatments with you on your travels, whatever the time of year.

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