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Spring wildlife

March 21st is celebrated as the first day of spring and the end of dreary winter. However, Mother Nature pays no heed to calendars and the first signs of the changing seasons can often be glimpsed as early as January.

Spring is a time of birth and renewal and the wondrous part about it is that everything works in conjunction with everything else. For example, nature ensures a plentiful supply of insects in time to feed the season's baby birds.

Sadly, warmer winters have led to this ancient system being thrown slightly out of whack. Spring seems to be arriving earlier every year, and in December 2004 there were even reports of frogspawn in some southern ponds and streams.

Signs of spring:

Birds

For many people, spring has truly arrived the first time they hear the distinctive call of the cuckoo. Birds in general are a good indicator of the changing seasons. The so-called 'dawn chorus' pipes up early in the year and becomes even louder in March/April with the arrival of migrants such as the swallow, swift and house martin. April is also nest-building time, with many birds returning to tried and tested nesting territories.

Insects

Another sure sign that spring is here is the return of the bumblebee. The first warm days of the year waken these stripy insects from hibernation and propel them into the skies in search of colony sites (mated queens) and food (workers). Peacock butterflies and ladybirds similarly emerge once warmer weather patterns are established, and dragonflies clamber out of the water and hatch as flying adults in the relative safety (weather-wise) of late spring.

Plant life

Blooming flowers, trees in bud, a riot of colour and the return of glorious greenery to our hedgerows and woodland, sure signs that the bleak days of winter are finally over. The pretty crocus is often one of the first plants to come into flower, closely followed by the snowdrop and daffodil - a traditional emblem of Mother's Day, Easter and the start of spring. Look out for the distinctive white flowers and red berries of the hawthorn from April, when trees such as horse chestnut, oak and silver birch are very close to bud burst.

Amphibians

A precarious season for frogs and toads, spring is the time of year when they embark upon a fraught journey back to their breeding sites - often along our busiest roads. Toads, preferring to walk instead of hop, can take as long as a month to complete this hazardous expedition. Newts share a similar life cycle and also return to their breeding ponds in the spring after hibernating through the winter. Grass snakes tend to wake from hibernation in late March and make their way to any large body of water that promises a plentiful supply of food.

Mammals

Green fields dotted with new-born lambs underline the fact that spring is a season of birth and renewal. Late spring is also the time in which badger cubs most often emerge from their sets to play. Other mammals, such as hares, become a more familiar sight once the days become warmer and longer.

Find out more about wildlife on canals and rivers.

Last updated: 15/01/2009