GREEN SHOOTS

Simon Ford, Land and Nature Adviser

Writing this article in the depths of January, I can only dream of spring and the green shoots emerging.

I look forward to feeling the warmth of the sun on my back, rather than icy fingers and multi-layered clothing. Instead of walking around with pounds of claggy clay on my wellies and slipping and sliding down paths, it will be nice to be able to venture out in walking shoes. Zeus, our dog might even come back from a walk and not shake mud across the kitchen, splattering the cupboards and walls with foul-smelling dirt!

What really fills me with hope is when bulbs start to emerge from the soil and the first leaves begin to unfurl on trees. Instead of skeletal woods and hedges, early emerging shrubs like elder and honeysuckle begin to grow after a long winter of dormancy. On a warm spring day in March, you might be lucky to see one of our early butterflies, like a butter yellow brimstone, mimicking a leaf, a deep red peacock, with its spectacular eyes or an aptly named orange tip male, seeking out ladies smock or cuckoo flower (same species, different names).

What I love hearing is bird song as they seek to find mates or advertise that it is their territory. Blackbirds, dunnocks, wrens and robins all start to call from dawn. Even the much-maligned wood pigeon coos from tree tops or the ridge of a cottage, confusing some people as it can sound quite cuckoo-like. It is really worth setting the alarm early and going to a local wood, such as the area above The Terraces to hear the dawn chorus at its best, but almost every garden will have a display.

In large trees and copses, a noisy commotion may be made by rooks, building a scruffy rookery. They nest as early as February and early March to take advantage of an abundance of food and may go on raiding parties to newly seeded fields, so Worzel Gummidge needs to remain vigilant!

The early part of March is generally too early for hibernating mammals such as bats, hedgehogs and dormice to emerge, although it is not unheard of. Likewise, reptiles such as slow worms, grass snakes and adders tend to wait until after the frosts, later in the month before coming out of their hibernation sites.

Queen bumble bees tend to emerge before the honey bee drones and can be seen as early as January. By March, it is likely that there will be a low hum on flowering plants such as winter honeysuckle, rosemary and crocus, covered in a variety of bees, feasting on the nectar.

In the flower beds, weeds such as bittercress, groundsel, cleavers, dandelions and speedwell are growing quickly and will aim to flower and set seed very early and may have a number of generations in one year if allowed! It might be wise to do a bit of weeding if you want to prevent them from spreading through the vegetable patch or borders.

You might do your first early grass cut (on a high setting) or perhaps you are going to leave an area to become a wild flower meadow and leave the lawnmower in the shed?

Even though it might be warming up, March is not an easy time for many animals, as most food sources such as berries and seeds have been used up over the long cold winter. It is therefore important to keep topping up the bird feeders. It is not too late to put up a bird box or install a hedgehog house.

We have spring and summer to look forward to, trips to see gardens with dramatic displays of rhododendrons, camelias and azaleas and walks in the countryside and beaches. Only a few weeks to go!

Today I saw the first honeybee collecting nectar from hazel catkins. It’s early February as I write and I’ve seen many catkins around since late November. I’ve been curious to know when they would attract the bees. At what time of day and in what climate would all the conditions be right? Today it was cold, around 7 degrees, and for a short time, the sun came out, and that’s when I spotted bees on catkins in a hedge. Catkins don’t rely on pollinators, only breezy weather, almost guaranteed during February and March. I only learned recently that the yellow dangly tails (named after their similarities to cat tails) are the male parts. A small red bunch of petals above the catkins, on the branch, is the female flower. The clouds of pollen carried by the wind need to reach the female flowers to produce a hazelnut.

The bees are interested in pollen at this time of year as it is a rich source of protein. As the queen will start laying eggs again, after a winter pause, the larvae need