Early signs of Spring as winter remains on hold

THE MILD weather has led to an early surge in the signs of spring, with snowdrops and hazel flowering and elders starting to burst into leaf, wildlife experts have said.
People take a walk in the winter sunshine near the Humber BridgePeople take a walk in the winter sunshine near the Humber Bridge
People take a walk in the winter sunshine near the Humber Bridge

Ladybirds and butterflies have even been sighted, according to reports from the public submitted to the Woodland Trust’s nature’s calendar project, which monitors the changing seasons.

Such signs of spring in January have become more common over the last decade and may point to spring arriving earlier than in the past, the Trust said.

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But species which are fooled into early activity as a result of the mild weather, such as frogs which might start breeding or trees blossoming, could then be vulnerable to freezing conditions which are not uncommon in February or March.

The first weeks of January have seen 31 reports of snowdrops in sites ranging from Kent to Anglesey, 44 observations of hazel flowering from Devon to Lincolnshire and 13 sightings of elder buds bursting. There have been two ladybird sightings, in Darlington and Devon, two records of small tortoiseshell butterflies have come in from Ely and Pembrokeshire, and one red admiral has been spotted in Crewe.

Paul Cook the curator at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Harlow Carr, in Harrogate, said the early spring had helped to attract more visitors in January. He said: “People often talk about snowdrops starting to flower early but we do not normally get them in the number we have had this year. “The daffodils are really flowering.”

He said the milder conditions were a marked contrast to the cold winters of recent years.