Nature Notes


Get Set for Spring! In March, wildlife begins to stir with hedgehogs and frogs appearing after hibernation. Carpets of flowering bulbs appear and the hedgerows begin to show some colour with splashes of yellow celandines and the first violets. By April nesting season is well under way and adult birds are getting more daring in their quest for insects, grubs and berries for their fledglings.


Song Thrush


Signs of Spring.....


❀Spot the buzzards skydancing and watch out for bright yellow Brimstone butterflies.


❀ Listen out for the melodious blackbird, robin, dunnock and song thrush who are all busy setting out territory and advertising for a mate.


❀ Smell the wild garlic which carpets the damp soil of woodlands and hedgerows. Both the leaves and pret- ty white flowers can be widely used in the kitchen as well as being early blooms for pollinators including hoverflies, butterflies and longhorn beetles.


Wild garlic, Kingswear


Perfect time for … Woodland walk in West Alvington wood Full of wildflowers, wild garlic, dog’s mercury and wood anemones, this mature wood just outside Kingsbridge is full of oak, beech and sweet chestnut as well as lots of fallen timber. It will be alive with birdsong and you may spot nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers prospecting for nesting holes as well as butterflies stretching out their wings. Top Tip: Look for the messages carved on the 200 year-old smooth- barked beeches, some carved by US soldiers in WW2. (southdevon-nl.org.uk)


Violets Violets are one of the first wild flowers to appear in spring and this native bloom thrives in the dappled shade of woodland and shady verges. Sweet violet is the fragrant and rarer species which appears earlier in the season followed in April/May by the widespread Common dog-violet which has no scent.


Sweet violet (sepals blunt)


Did you know? ❀ Violets are a key food source to several of the Fritillary butterflies including the Dark Green Fritillary, Silver Washed Fritillary and High Brown Fritillary


❀ Violets had their heyday in 20s and 30s when Devon nurseries would send train loads of them to London both to be used as cut flowers and as a scent for parfumiers.


Common dog violet (sepals pointed) Dark Green Fritillary


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