![Dr Richard Murray [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://markavery.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Cambo_snowdrops.jpg)
Singing birds: song thrush, chaffinch,greenfinch, great tit, robin, dunnock, blackbird – what else?
Flowering plants: snowdrop, aconite, primrose – what else?
Flying insects – brimstone, bumblebee – what else?
At my local patch of Stanwick Lakes there are still plenty of signs of winter; frozen water at the weekend, Iceland gulls reported locally, goosanders, fieldfares and two birds at the back of a starling flock which might (I’m not sure) have been waxwings.
On the other hand there is a pair of shelducks hanging around, two pairs of oystercatchers (including one pair mating on a very cold morning (good luck to them!)), lichens brightening up the dead-looking trees, pussy willows budding up, a bullfinch singing and goldeneyes displaying in a frenzy.
How about you?
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Mark,
Skylarks singing and primroses flowering in E Sussex yesterday.
Ravens on eggs, some pairs still thinking about it. Treecreepers singing while wood pigeons appear to have never stopped all winter. Stoats still in ermine. Red squirrels buiding nesting dreys. Butterbur in flower along with snowflakes, hellebores, cardamine, Asiatic primulas and a great spring for hazel catkins. Too many pheasants!
Magpies and crows building their nests. I know this starts sometime before Christmas but I love the idea that both species treat nest-building as though they have experienced human house moves and they are never going to be caught out again.
Some lovely snowdrop patches seen the other day between Middleton and Manchester.
House sparrows gathering nest material even though they will not breed for another month. A good reason not to sort out our mossy lawns?
Lots of early bird song but unlike Stanwick Lake, pretty much a scaling down of wintering wildfowl numbers on my local patch – Elton Reservoir.
Things advancing quickly in the NW. Waders have started to arrive back and awoke this morning to the ringing calls of curlew in the meadows behind the house. Hawthorn starting to leaf, daffodils, aconites, flowering cherry, snowdrops and hellebores bursting out. Even saw a bat last Thursday evening!
Hi Mark, I’ve had all the birds you mention singing plus coal tit, plus skylarks singing and territorial on the moors. Aconite and snowdrops. No lesser celandines yet. But winter is still clinging on here in Lothian too with reports of an Iceland gull nearby yesterday. I have been confined to barracks the last week, office work and preparing for a home move. I monitor urban sparrowhawks and am looking forward to getting out on some territories and seeing if there are early signs of occupancy or even some tentative nest building. And to seeing some more spring. Its always welcome here the winter is so long and dark! Tom
Mark, our communal roost of dozens of pied wagtails disbanded yesterday when the mercury rose.
Yet on business in Oxford yesterday I walked through a winter flock of siskin sitting in alder trees and our hedgehog (at home) has yet to clamber out of its pit this year so far.
First outing for the moff trap last night resulted in just one expected (Hebrew) character, or as I call it, the “early nun”.
Most spring-like event of the week for me was a day-flying bat (soprano pip we think) outside work on Monday at 2pm in bright sun. I expect a hawk or kite nobbled it later, as is often the way round ere with bats that are batty enough to emerge in the day….
Lovely to see goshawks displaying above nest area.
Great crested grebe also displaying on loch & yesterday added first
bits of reeds to nest.
Perthshire
On our half term break we saw lots of snowdrops in Yorkshire and a pair of Dippers who looked to have been getting ready to breed. Closer to home Song Thrush singing, Woodpigeons and Rook seen flying with nesting materialand a Dunnocks constantly singing and chasing each other and a pair of Blue Tits constantly checking out a nest box in our garden.
Or for a more detailed set of my thoughts on the (local) coming of spring…
http://www.dmackdimages.co.uk/blog/2013/3/-are-we-nearrrly-therrre-yet
Skylarks singing incredibly loudly above the building site (Saxon Fields near Biggleswade, Beds) – can clearly be heard above the construction site traffic and activity. Feel slightly guilty about this – have we made them homeless?
House sparrow cheeping and sticking it’s head out of a chimney on a nearly new house on the estate though, that would be a coup to get them colonising quickly – what can we do to encourage them?
Great tits have their loudhalers, song thrushes doing their rap, blackbirds singing for a couple of weeks now – sunshine yesterday so one was really going for it in the afternoon which is a lovely soundtrack to have whilst at my desk at work.
General annoying and pointless tidying up of local landscapes; slasher the hedge trimmer has been busy.
Took the daughter out in the pushchair last Wednesday – thought spring may have been putting in appearance so chose not to bother with gloves. Got away from the shelter of the houses and realised my mistake! Despite a ‘feels like’ temperature in the wind of about absolute zero, I noticed an ash tree near our local leisure centre which was just beginning to show signs of coming into flower ludicrously early. Went and had a closer look as I’d never taken much notice of it before and realised what a fine tree it was – multi stemmed, so possibly very old coppice. The ghost of a hedgerow that was itself once the ghost of an ancient wood? What sort of a spring will it have – will it still be alive this time next year?
Small flock of starlings doing their snap crackle and pop in a group of oaks – I suppose that could be a sign of any time of year but it seemed a bit spring-like to me.
Lovely purple flowers on the young elms in local woods and by the roadsides. Again, what sort of summer will they have?
Long Hazel catkins in profusion now, though quite late this year. Only just seeing first snowdrops and daffs – phenological records would have this as a late-ish spring I think for late 20th/early 21st century – but how would it have looked 100 or even 50 years ago?
H M the Queen is in good spirits and it’s not long till Budget day, so it must be spring. You’ve got to love nature’s optimism even in the face of a multitude of threats.
there’s a drumming great spot on my way in to work most mornings, and oystercatchers in number moving up the river. Singing yellowhammer on the bike route.
flowering plants aren’t my forte, but while hoping to see early primroses in some sheltered spot last weekend and found only 30cm of snow. So mostly snowdrops.
And I think a bee wizzed past the window at work yesterday.
Mistle Thrushes have been singing for a few weeks now Long-tailed Tits are pairing up and I saw my first Brimstone Butterfly yesterday – 14/15C in Glos!
First butterflies of the year for us yesterday, on and around Greenham Common. A total of 5 male brimstones, and one small tortoiseshell.
Nettles. Molehills. A Clematis I thought had died has basal shoots on it. Lathyrus vernus shoots. Molehills. Forsythia buds thinking about it. Seed potatoes in SCATS. Thomson & Morgan, Beth Chatto and Alwoods catalogues in post. Molehills. Snowdrops, daffodils, an alpine I have forgotten the name of, Pulmonaria all in flower. New rat burrow. Rash of emails telling me about wonderful things I can buy my Mother. Molehills. Birds all over my fatballs. Life is just grand.
Even more litter on the verges of the lanes on Exmoor – partly because people are getting out more and also because the hedges and verges have been cut back exposing an under story of garbage. Saw a beautiful complete Macdonalds meal wrapping nestling amongst some primroses recently with a half eaten burger a real boon for the local wildlife! Probably migrated east all the way from Barnstaple. It really made my heart sing!
Various moths on the wing – march moth, pale brindled beauty, dotted border, common plume, amongst others. I’ve yet to see Common Quaker and Hebrew Character but have heard reports from others.
Wood pigeon and blackbird collecting nest material in the garden. Peacock butterfly on mild day in January. Primrose, cowslip, aconite, scillas, crocus, camellia and wild daffodil in flower in frozen yorks. No sign of frog spawn in garden yet! Hurray, some positive signs for a change.
Another sign of spring is that the forecast for next week mentions cold and the possibility of snow – have the weather gods been reading your blog Mark and making sport?!
MK – I’m tempted to say that everyone reads my blog but obviously that wouldn’t be true. And there are as many devils as gods, I guess. No.I think it is more likely that it is because it is the Cheltenham Festival that the weather gods are making their plans…
Hi Mark
My signs of spring are Dunnocks singing, Cormorants in breeding plumage, Snowdrops and Crocus popping up everywhere, Whooper Swans disappearing and Crows and Magpies carrying sticks twice as big as them. I am looking forward to lots of feathery visitors returning like Puffins, Swifts, Swallows, Warblers and Blackcaps. From Findlay
What with temps still around 10c at 8pm tonight and a little drizzle… thought I’d check our local toad crossing.
Glad I did…..
They’re all crossing NOW.
Saved six – plenty more to be taken from the road and put in the ditch near their breeding lake.
Hi Mark
Signs so far include peacock butterfly, skylark singing over Raunds sewage works, great crested grebe with weed in beak and entertaining the lady of his life, mute swan throwing his weight about with any rivals at Ditchford and a great tit exploring a nest box in our garden.
A true sign of the end of winter (for now….. I hear it’s gonnae get MUCH colder again next week….?)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_black_rabbit/8534057441/in/photostream
Golden Plover on territory……are they daft?
Two male Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the garden vying for the favours of a female, but then a lonesome male Brambling as well!
To the chorus of birds above: Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Green Woodpecker (and did anyone mention Mistle Thrush? They’ve been singing for a goodly while now). Our Blackbirds are getting tuned up properly now too. Rooks displaying and gathering nest material – my 14-month daughter was entranced with them when we walked back from the childminder’s on Tuesday. Celandine, Hazel, Dog’s-mercury all in flower and the leaves of pignut and Early Purple Orchid are up in the loacl woods. Hoverflies and a Brimstone out and about on Tuesday in our garden. Nice to live in the soft south sometimes!