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five of our favourite springtime wildlife sights and sounds
21 March 2019
Swifts returning from Africa by Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
After what can seem like a long winter, springtime generally provides a welcome lift for everyone. New shoots burst through the soil and an eruption of animals 'waking up' provides wildlife enthusiasts ample viewing enjoyment and photographic opportunities.
1. The return of migrant birds 🦅
In mid-April you will hear a distinctive, bright chirruping call and see a bold flicker of black and white dive in over your garden and swoop up to the round mud nests tucked under our house eaves. Yes, the house martins are back from their stay in Africa! Astonishingly clever birds, house martins build their nests using more than 1,000 beak-sized pellets of mud that can take them around 10 days to do, although the birds aren't adverse to doing home repairs and reusing old nests. You can help out these little lodgers by having areas of damp mud in your garden, if you have a nearby building with eaves or an overhang.
Other noteworthy spring arrivals that do the same include wheatears, swallows and cuckoos. Swifts are one of the last summer migrants to arrive and are in need of our help at the moment. UK cuckoo numbers have plummeted in recent decades as-well and in an effort to understand why, the British Trust for Ornithology has been satellite-tracking cuckoos since 2011. You can follow cuckoo movements on their website.
2. A buzz in the air with emerging bumblebees 🐝
Spring is a time when the air once again starts to fill with the happy hum of emerging queen bumblebees. The buff-tailed bumblebee queen, the largest UK species Bombus terrestris, is usually the first bee to emerge, often at the end of February. Queens and workers will already be busy on the Mahonia bushes and Hebes. In much of England this bee now has active nests throughout the winter. Interesting fact - there are over 250 species of bee in the UK and a staggering 25,000 globally. One for the pub quiz...
3. Beetles and butterflies 🦋🐞
It only needs a few sunny days to tempt the first beetles out of hibernation. On a warm afternoon in late winter, the "aerial plankton" of small flying beetles such as rove beetles and ladybirds can be strikingly diverse, picked out by the setting Sun. Some of the first beetles to emerge for the new season are flightless however. The large, glossy-black oil beetles and bloody-nosed beetles can be found lumbering along coastal footpaths or chalky hillsides from the end of February.
You will be able to enjoy early sightings of adult butterflies coming out of hibernation at this time of year as-well, when we have the odd warm day or two. Brimstones, peacocks, small tortoiseshells, red admirals and commas.
4. Bats in feast mode 🦇
There are eighteen bat species living in the wild in the UK and the increasing abundance of insects in the spring is appreciated by all of them. Most UK bat species have spent the winter in hibernation, tucked away in places like caves to escape the harsh winter weather and survive through months of little available prey. By springtime they will have used up their fat reserves and are hungry, particularly the pregnant females as mating season was in autumn. So as the weather improves, expect to see them out and about on any warm evening, hoovering up any available insects they can find. Keep an eye out over lakes, ponds and rivers on warm evenings and you might spot a bat gleaning insects over the water.
5. Frog spawn and amphibian action 🐸
When people think of ponds in spring, seeing frogspawn may be the first thing that 'springs' to mind (sorry). However, frogs are not the only amphibians using ponds at this time of year. The UK's three native newt species will have spent the winter tucked away in hibernacula, perhaps under old log piles or in-between rocks and stones. But when springtime is here - there is only one thing on their minds. Although newts spend most of their lives hunting on land, they mate and lay their eggs in ponds. In male newts, spring prompts the production of extravagant physical features such as crests, huge tails with bright silver flashes and, in the case of the palmate newt, gigantic back feet. Meanwhile the females will be searching for the perfect leaf to safely wrap their individually laid eggs. Toads also often wrap their spawn in submerged vegetation, but they lay it in long strings. Frogspawn is what you see in clumps.
WIN - enter our new photography competition for UK wildlife here
1. The return of migrant birds 🦅
In mid-April you will hear a distinctive, bright chirruping call and see a bold flicker of black and white dive in over your garden and swoop up to the round mud nests tucked under our house eaves. Yes, the house martins are back from their stay in Africa! Astonishingly clever birds, house martins build their nests using more than 1,000 beak-sized pellets of mud that can take them around 10 days to do, although the birds aren't adverse to doing home repairs and reusing old nests. You can help out these little lodgers by having areas of damp mud in your garden, if you have a nearby building with eaves or an overhang.
Other noteworthy spring arrivals that do the same include wheatears, swallows and cuckoos. Swifts are one of the last summer migrants to arrive and are in need of our help at the moment. UK cuckoo numbers have plummeted in recent decades as-well and in an effort to understand why, the British Trust for Ornithology has been satellite-tracking cuckoos since 2011. You can follow cuckoo movements on their website.
2. A buzz in the air with emerging bumblebees 🐝
Spring is a time when the air once again starts to fill with the happy hum of emerging queen bumblebees. The buff-tailed bumblebee queen, the largest UK species Bombus terrestris, is usually the first bee to emerge, often at the end of February. Queens and workers will already be busy on the Mahonia bushes and Hebes. In much of England this bee now has active nests throughout the winter. Interesting fact - there are over 250 species of bee in the UK and a staggering 25,000 globally. One for the pub quiz...
3. Beetles and butterflies 🦋🐞
It only needs a few sunny days to tempt the first beetles out of hibernation. On a warm afternoon in late winter, the "aerial plankton" of small flying beetles such as rove beetles and ladybirds can be strikingly diverse, picked out by the setting Sun. Some of the first beetles to emerge for the new season are flightless however. The large, glossy-black oil beetles and bloody-nosed beetles can be found lumbering along coastal footpaths or chalky hillsides from the end of February.
You will be able to enjoy early sightings of adult butterflies coming out of hibernation at this time of year as-well, when we have the odd warm day or two. Brimstones, peacocks, small tortoiseshells, red admirals and commas.
4. Bats in feast mode 🦇
There are eighteen bat species living in the wild in the UK and the increasing abundance of insects in the spring is appreciated by all of them. Most UK bat species have spent the winter in hibernation, tucked away in places like caves to escape the harsh winter weather and survive through months of little available prey. By springtime they will have used up their fat reserves and are hungry, particularly the pregnant females as mating season was in autumn. So as the weather improves, expect to see them out and about on any warm evening, hoovering up any available insects they can find. Keep an eye out over lakes, ponds and rivers on warm evenings and you might spot a bat gleaning insects over the water.
5. Frog spawn and amphibian action 🐸
When people think of ponds in spring, seeing frogspawn may be the first thing that 'springs' to mind (sorry). However, frogs are not the only amphibians using ponds at this time of year. The UK's three native newt species will have spent the winter tucked away in hibernacula, perhaps under old log piles or in-between rocks and stones. But when springtime is here - there is only one thing on their minds. Although newts spend most of their lives hunting on land, they mate and lay their eggs in ponds. In male newts, spring prompts the production of extravagant physical features such as crests, huge tails with bright silver flashes and, in the case of the palmate newt, gigantic back feet. Meanwhile the females will be searching for the perfect leaf to safely wrap their individually laid eggs. Toads also often wrap their spawn in submerged vegetation, but they lay it in long strings. Frogspawn is what you see in clumps.
WIN - enter our new photography competition for UK wildlife here
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