Spring is here

As of March 1st it is officially spring here in the UK. Unlike the snowed up parts of Eastern USA it was a pretty mild winter here, particularly in the southeast where it felt like spring had already arrived a couple of weeks ago.

The snowdrops have been out for over a month and daffodils buds are springing open with a sunny flush of yellow that echoes the lighter mornings. Along the woodland edges  and hedgerows lords-and-ladies are sending up verdant spears of leaves and clumps of cow parsley and goosegrass are beginning to grow. Lesser celandine (a member of the buttercup family and not closely related to Greater celandine) is also in bloom with star-shaped yellow blossoms and in the garden crocuses are emerging.

Slightly higher up Cherry trees are starting to bud into white and pink blossoms which will be followed by the flowering of Blackthorn and Hawthorn trees. The birds too are singing more as they investigate and claim territories for nesting sites.

Up in the woodland you may me lucky and find one of our native daffodils instead of a planted cultivar. These are generally smaller than garden varieties and tend to clump together in patches. Their leaves are narrow and grey-green and they have paler yellow petals that taper to a point; contrasting with a brighter yellow trumpet.

Not a native one unfortunately

Other woodland flowers will follow such as Wood anemones, which will carpet the woodland floor in white before being closely followed by the purple haze of bluebells and early purple orchids. All making the most of the sunshine before the trees burst into leaf and the canopy closes up.

Keep an eye on your ponds too as the amphibians move back in, if they haven't already, the earliest frogspawn can be found in Jaunary!