Welcome signs of spring have been around for several weeks now.

Some are quite subtle and understated such as the array of leaf buds on trees, dormant now but each one ready to burst forth in a few weeks time while other signs are vibrant and colourful.

Birds are resplendent in new breeding plumage and great tits are examining nest boxes. Blackbirds sing early and late  together with dunnocks, the latter's not a proper melodious song but more of a hurried torrent of short scratchy notes.

Sadly I've  yet to hear another songthrush locally.

Early nesters like herons and rooks are busy. One positive sign of spring is displayed by black headed gulls which are beginning to acquire sooty mottled heads although some early birds have already donned  complete black, or in reality very dark brown hoods(pictured).

 Frogs  occasionally stir as February is their usual spawning month but dates vary according to the weather. Mild wet conditions suit them.

I always look forward to spotting the first butterfly which is usually a yellow brimstone, the 'butter coloured fly' so named by our forefathers and the origin of ' butterfly'. 

Having hibernated in evergreen ivy or under bramble leaves the brimstone is often tempted out on sunny mornings to fly rapidly along hedgerows or woodland margins looking like an animated daffodil.

Also making an appearance shortly will be our other hibernators including peacock, comma, small tortoiseshell and red admiral, all of them, together with wild flowers colourful harbingers of spring.