If you need something to remind you that Spring really is on the way, have a look at Nature’s Calendar. It’s a project run by The Woodland Trust and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and it asks volunteers to record the changes of the seasons.

The signs they ask you to look for are things like the first frogspawn or rooks building, or slightly off-beat ones like the first time you mow the lawn that year. They have amassed a large amount of data on the timing of natural phenomema (phenology).

Don’t be put off by their Guide running to 48 pages: most of that consists of pictures of the various species for identification. You can choose various ones you’re interested in – birds, trees, butterflies, grasses, wildflowers…

We have a stand at the Slimbridge Festival of Birds (Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd February) which we are sharing with the Gloucestershire Naturalists Society and the Gloucestershire Ornithological Co-ordinating Committee. The latter is the body responsible for The Birds of Gloucestershire, recently published and even more recently sold out and re-printed. The editors Gordon Kirk and John Phillips are giving one of the talks at the Festival.

The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust have lined up an excellent set of talks, walks and events.  Our stand is in the main foyer so drop in and say hello if you’re there.