Remember to keep dogs on a lead during the bird breeding season (1st March to 31st July) and avoid nesting birds, particularly those that nest on the ground such as curlew, lapwing and grouse.

Mammals:

As the saying goes it’s as “Mad as a March Hare”. The boxing hares aren’t normally two males fighting but usually involves a female fighting off a male. Did you know that male and female hares are known as Jack and Jill and that they can run very fast? Their top speed is 35 miles per hour, which makes them the fastest land animal in the UK!

Amphibians And Reptiles:

Toads return to the pond that they developed from as spawn and, by late March, the toads have spawned, whereas frogspawn may have already hatched, so look out for any tadpoles.

Birds:

You may hear, or even see, a great spotted woodpecker drilling into a tree and blue tits are looking for places to nest. If you have already put up a nest box they may be checking yours out, go and have a look. The curlews are back on the upland bogs and wet fields ready to breed. They are the largest European wading bird.

Ducks and coots are squabbling on ponds, canals, reservoirs and lakes and mute swans are starting to build their nests. The saying ‘as bald as a coot’ refers to the white patch above the white bill. Coots dive to feed on pondweeds and invertebrates and return to the surface quickly due to its cork-like buoyancy. Unlike ducks, coots bring their food to the surface before eating it, which can result in squabbles and food stealing.

Lapwings (also known as peewits and chewits) start to establish territories on arable fields in March. They have a swirling, tumbling flight dropping from the sky only to rise up again at the last minute, whilst calling ‘peewit’. Their normal flight is rather laboured and ‘floppy’, their black wings appearing very wide.

Watch out for birds of prey soaring in the skies above. Listen out for the skylark’s song, followed by the arrival of the first spring migrants including the wheatear, chiff chaff and willow warbler or even an early cuckoo.

Invertebrates:

Look out for insects emerging from their hibernation, slightly dazed but drawn by the prospect of their first proper meal for what must seem like months. The first insects hatch, some butterflies take to the air, honeybees emerge from their hives to gather nectar and pollen and queen bumblebees search the undergrowth for a suitable nesting place.

Trees And Shrubs:

White flowers appear on bare blackthorn twigs. Flowering often coincides with a cold spell in early spring, sometimes referred to as a ‘blackthorn winter’, and from a distance the white blossom could be mistaken for snow! The thorns are tough enough to puncture tractor tyres! Willow catkins appear in profusion but it’s the male catkins of the goat willow that most people would recognise as “pussy willows”, Hawthorn leaves unfurl and they used to be eaten in the past (called “bread and cheese”).

Plants:

Whilst the flowers of crocuses and the yellow flowers of daffodils, winter aconite, lesser celandine and primrose can be seen, those of dog’s mercury and opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage are similar in colour to the leaves and are difficult to see until you know what to look for.

Also look out for the early violets, red and white deadnettle and coltsfoot, which flowers before producing its leaves. The leaves of lords and ladies and wood anemone and those of bulbs such as bluebells and wild garlic are steadily pushing up through the soil in the woods and hedgerows.

Ivy is a very important plant, especially during spring and autumn. Its life cycle is out of step with other plants because it flowers in the autumn and fruits in the spring! Hence ivy provides food and shelter to insects and birds when they need it the most. The berries ripen in March and are toxic but eaten on a small scale their high fat content provides a valuable early food source for birds such as woodpigeons, starlings and thrushes.