Are your woods already springing to life?

SIGNS OF SPRING: Hazel catkins. Picture: WTPL / Frances Watts

Woodland Trust wants to monitor effects of mild winter

January 2012: If you've noticed signs of spring in the middle of winter, The Woodland Trust would like to hear from you.

The trust is asking the public to report observations of the effects of the milder winter weather on native trees and flowers across the country. This follows a number of anecdotal reports of flowers blooming and native trees bursting their buds weeks ahead of schedule. In the last three months of 2011 there were only four air frosts, compared to 35 in 2010, and an average of 15 in the period 1878-2010.

The conservation charity has already received evidence through its Nature's Calendar website of snowdrops and daffodils blooming, as well as silver birch, oak and hazel trees' buds bursting. Data recorded by the public will add weight to the trust's already vast resource of information on how trees and woods play a role in the natural environment, supporting its goal of creating a country rich in native trees and woods..

‘We're seeing daffodils in late December'
Dr Kate Lewthwaite from the Woodland Trust said: ‘Our native plants and trees are great indicators of wider changes in the natural world. By recording budburst and flowers blooming the public can help us determine whether these changes are having a major effect on how Mother Nature functions. Despite what people may think, in recent years it has become more commonplace to see daffodils and snowdrops in late December and early January as the climate warms.'

The trust is gathering data to assess the arrival of spring in comparison to previous years, to analyse whether the trend of native flora appearing earlier will continue in 2012. Early flowering species such as snowdrop and lesser celandine are particularly useful in giving an indicator of climatic conditions.

The trust is also looking for evidence of frogspawn to see whether frogs are being fooled into spawning early, as if this was followed by freezing weather it could lead to frozen spawn in ponds up and down the country.

To record details go to VisitWoods.org.uk