Your local woodland is calling – it’s a free, accessible playground, and a haven for wildlife, especially in spring. Buds are beginning to burst, frogs are croaking and birds are singing. It’s been a long winter, with plenty of time indoors looking out at cold, grey days. So as we begin to enjoy a little more light and life in the trees around us, it’s the perfect time to get outside.
Even a short walk in the woods can make us happier and healthier, no matter our age, as exposure to forest environments can help us feel calm and improve our mental health, reducing both blood pressure and cortisol levels. What’s more, observing nature makes us more aware of the changing seasons, and the intricate connections between the trees, plants and wildlife all around us.
The Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, is enlisting the public in monitoring ecologically significant plants and wildlife as part of its vital signs of spring initiative. The three it has chosen – frogspawn, blackthorn blossom and song thrush – all respond strongly to changes in seasonal temperatures, making them bellwether species that can help us understand more about how nature is responding to climate change.
Here’s how you can spot spring’s vital signs …
Blackthorn blossom
Check the hedgerows for blackthorn. As the name suggests, it has spiny branches with black-purple twigs. It’s covered with small, pretty white flowers in March and April, before small, narrow leaves begin to unfurl.
Also found in scrubland and woods, blackthorn is an important early source of nectar and pollen for bees. Butterflies and moths also rely on it because its leaves are a valuable food plant for caterpillars; in fact, it’s the main food source of the rare brown hairstreak butterfly.
Birds also benefit from blackthorn, as it provides them with shelter and a protective nesting site. They love to eat its autumn berries, known as sloes – the main ingredient of sloe gin.
Frogspawn
Kids are fascinated by frogspawn – the jelly-like structure, those little wiggly blobs, and the possibility of seeing a frog nearby – and it’s easy to spot at this time of year. Frogspawn is usually laid in partially shaded, shallow ponds, in gardens and in natural green spaces. Thousands of eggs are produced each spring because only a small fraction of them will survive to become adult frogs. Predators often take their share – spawn is eaten by dragonfly larvae, newts, water boatmen and birds.
The frogspawn you’re most likely to spot in the UK belongs to the common frog, which is green or brown and up to 9cm long. Unfortunately they’ve disappeared in some areas of the countryside because of the use of pesticides in agriculture and a reduction in wetland habitats and ponds.
However, if you do spot frogspawn, don’t try to move some of it to another pond as this can risk the spread of invasive plant species and amphibian disease. Best to observe it where it is, and keep returning on a regular basis to watch the little dots transform into tadpoles and then tiny frogs.
Song thrushes
Have you ever noticed persistent, clear birdsong coming from the very top of a tree in early spring? Chances are it’s a song thrush, with its distinctive repertoire of notes, whistles and trills – each one is different, and repeated two or three times before it moves on to the next phrase.
It’s not just a beautiful voice which makes it distinctive – the song thrush is one of the few birds that eats snails. It likes to use a large stone or “anvil” to smash the shell against and reach the soft body inside. This bird is musical, clever and great at reducing garden pests!
Why keep an eye out for song thrushes? The species has been in a dramatic decline due to changes in farming practices, which have affected its food sources and habitat. However, it’s recovering slowly, and the song thrush can still be spotted in woodland, farmland, parks and gardens across the UK.
Look out for a bird that is slightly smaller than a blackbird, with a brown head, wings and back, and a cream breast speckled with brown spots. It’s very similar to the mistle thrush, but you can spot the difference by checking their chests – a mistle thrush has darker, rounded spots, while the song thrush’s are more like upside-down hearts.
What next?
If you’re lucky enough to find any of these three species on your family adventures, consider recording them on the Woodland Trust’s dedicated website page where you can also find out more about why spring is happening earlier.
Taking the kids to the woods isn’t just a great idea to keep them entertained and interested in nature – by surveying the wildlife, our young people can help protect some of the species endangered by increasing temperatures and changing weather. And joy can be found in spotting those connections, which create a thriving community of plants, wildlife and people – an ecosystem which makes for a healthy planet and healthy people.
Discover more about spotting spring’s vital signs and help the Woodland Trust check on the health of the planet by logging your sightings at woodlandtrust.org.uk/vitalsigns
