What was the first butterfly you saw this spring? The bright yellow brimstone is a distinctive early species, the ‘butter that flies’ that probably inspired the word butterfly. More likely as a first-sighting, though, is a comma or a peacock butterfly. What all three have in common is that they spend the winter as adults so can wake to take advantage of early-season nectar. Butterflies that overwinter as a chrysalis, such as orange tips, appear a little later (my first orange tip was in the garden today, 1 April).
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| Comma, this one was in February. |
We all love spring flowers, and perhaps primroses, cowslips and violets come to mind, then bluebells a little later. Often less glamorous species are commoner and overlooked. Dead-nettles – red and white – are two of these, and can be found easily. Red dead-nettles are often on roadsides, patches of grass or unmanicured lawns, sometimes with dandelions. These ruderal flowers – a fancy word for growing on waste ground – provide valuable nectar sources for early season bees and other insects.
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| Red-dead nettle, late March 2025. |
In gardens we tend to choose cultivated flowers that bloom
early as they lift the spirits. These can benefit wildlife. A good example is
lungwort (Pulmonaria), which is very popular with the hairy-footed
flower bee. Though strictly speaking called a solitary bee, often there will be
several feeding in the same place.
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| Hairy-footed flower bee on lungwort. This is a male, which looks similar to a common carder bee. Females are black. |
Now is a good time to think about ‘No Mow May’. This idea is promoted by conservation group Plantlife, and the name says it all: having an area of grass that remains uncut to benefit wildlife. Naturally you can start this in April and extend the idea into June. If it’s not practical for all your lawn to be long, then do what you can. It can be surprising to see what flowers are just waiting to emerge, helped by sympathetic management. Take time, if you can, to witness the extra wildlife activity on a patch of mixed long grass and flowers, compared with a cut lawn.
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| No Mow May collage, all in my Thorpe St Andrew garden. |
Spring and birds singing go together, and the greatest
variety and volume of bird song is during April and the first half of May. A
dawn chorus at a nature reserve may be a lovely experience, but it isn’t for
everyone. Happily, some of our best songsters are birds of parks and gardens,
such as blackbirds, robins and dunnocks. And here’s a lazy alternative to a
dawn chorus: step outside and try a dusk chorus. For birds, a simple logic
applies, morning or evening: when light levels are low, feeding is less practical,
so they concentrate instead on establishing territory and attracting a mate.
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| Chaffinch in song (Barry Madden). |
Article written for Just Thorpe St Andrew magazine, here as a blog. Chris Durdin lives in Thorpe St Andrew. He runs Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays www.honeyguide.co.uk and is the guide for the monthly guided walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes.
