nature
Snowdrops, with their shy but uplifted heads, break the icy start to the early mornings of spring A wonderful display of wild daffodils bringing joy to the edge of a wood
The Gateway to Spring
By Mik
e Geo r ge
Mike George is our regular contributor on wildlife and the countryside in France. He is a geologist and naturalist, living in the Jurassic area of the Charente
“FOR SUCH A BEASTLY MONTH AS FEBRUARY, TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS AS A GENERAL RULE ARE PLENTY”
S
o wrote WS Gilbert in “The Pirates of Penzance”. And I think most of us feel very much the same. January has frozen us to the marrow, and then February either continues this or warms things up to slush. Either way, nothing tangible seems to happen to Nature. It isn’t true, though. Nature is always doing something. Snowdrops appear even towards the start of the month. These always cheer the heart. Our church in England had a wonderful bank of snowdrops in front of it, and it uplifted the heart on a bitter cold Sunday morning – until the Vicar decided to build his new church hall right on the same spot! If the month is warm, and early growth is possible, the wild daffodils may start to appear in the woods by the end of the month – certainly their growth will be well advanced. The daffodil’s old name is “Lent lily”, and with Easter almost as late as it can be this year, they really should live up
to that name. The little wood near my home is host to a mass of small, wild daffodils, and for me they signal the start of hope for the spring to come.
year we even had a May frost – no walnuts for me last autumn!
There are a few insects around at the start of the month, and if temperatures are not too arctic, you may see the odd Carpenter The male flowers of a number of trees are Bee exploring holes in walls and timbers preparing themselves for spring. The hazel towards the end of the month, and I have trees in particular look beautiful as the even seen catkins, which have Hummingbird Hawk been hanging around If you should chance to see a Moths in flight late in looking reddish all winter, begin to take butterfly, be assured that it is February, but that is most uncommon. on the yellowish a hibernating adult that has blush of developing been awakened by an If you should chance to pollen. These catkins see a butterfly, be unusually warm day are always early, as assured that it is a they have to release hibernating adult that their pollen before the tree-leaves develop, has been awakened by an unusually warm so that the pollen, which is wind-borne, day. Since insect hibernation is different can reach the female flowers from that of vertebrates, it is less energyuninterrupted. costly for an insect to switch between dormancy and wakefulness, but the No blossoms will appear yet on any other creature’s chances of survival to spring tree, however; the likelihood of frost in will be enhanced if a source of nectar can March, and even in April, is high. Last
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