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Signs of Spring - April
April is the last of the great spring months as next month Summer starts to get going. Birds arrive from wintering away from the UK, Bluebells come out in force and many other fantastic natural events take place.
Returning Summer Visitors
As the weather warms up, the seasonal summer victors come back to the UK after wintering in other parts of the world. These can include:
- Willow Warbler
- Chiffchaff
- Osprey
- Swallow
- Blackcap
- Yellow Wagtail
- Pied Flycather
- Nightingale
- House Martin
- Garden Warbler
- Arctic Turn
- Turtle Dove
- Cuckoo
- Swift
- Nightjar
Despite many not spending their whole lives in the UK many of these are synonymous with the a British summer.
Dawn Chorus
Many of these new arrivals swell and add to the bird song heard through the air. At its peak during the dawn chorus, Song thrushes, blackbirds and robins are some of those who get up the earliest to start their song, before being joined by Wrens, warblers, The dawn is the perfect time for them to do this singing, as the during this part of the day with dim light it is hard for them to feed and find insects as well as protecting them from predators. The natural quite and calmness of the early morning also allows their song to carry further making it easier to find a mate.
Later on during the day other very distinct calls will be heard from birds such as the Cuckoo and Turtle Doves.
Great crested newts
This is the month in which the largest of the British amphibians gather together to breed. The Great Crested Newt takes it name from the jagged crest that runs along the males back as they show it off to try and attract one of the larger females.
Both have brown / black bodies with bright orange bellies which warn predators that their skin contains toxins.
Not often found in garden ponds, your best chance to see them is to visit a near by larger wild pond with a torch and try to catch a glimpse of their range bellies as it reflects back from the torch light. Your chances are better in lowland England, but they do reside in parts of Wales and Scotland too.
Bluebell Woods
There are few finer sites in April than stumbling across a beautiful blue carpet of bluebells in a dabbled wood. It is a treat than can really lift the sole and definitely a moment to take out from your day to stop, look, and listen. Enjoy the calmness, smell, and sound of the busy bees going about their business
More common in Ancient and old woodland where they have been able to grow undisturbed for a long time covering the woodland floor. They are the latest of the woodland flowers to bloom as they arrive just in time to take advantage of the sunlight before the trees leaf and the canopy blocks out the light.
The bats awaken
After a long hibernation during the colder months the warming air brings most UK bats out from hibernation during April. If you are lucky, you can see the small common pipistrel flittering around on a calm evening at dusk as the start to feed up for their mating season. Regularly eating up to 3,000 insects per night, including midges and moths.
Or you may see the larger brown long eared bat (whose ears are as long as their body), as they leave their roosts in old budlings and trees before swooping down lower to the ground to eat moths, earwigs, spiders and beetles, This sometimes even results in them landing on the ground