April 2026
“Oh, to be in England now that April is here” Robert Browning (1812–1889) informed us. Well, here you are, in an English April. Mr Browning’s life overlapped with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution developing between 1760 and 1840. That is when climate change got started. I suspect he would be surprised at what April feels like now, if he were to come back to life.
I have already seen some wild bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in bloom near Tunbridge Wells (March 1st!), a sight not usual before about May. I have not yet seen wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa) out this year as I write on 10th March, they normally pre-date bluebells during April, but will these also appear in March? The common bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) will be making the most of these two splendid forest floor plants that are a sign of a woodland being truly ancient. Please do listen out for a cuckoo (Cuculus canoris), and if you hear/see one, please let me know, because they have become so rare, that a year can pass without me hearing even one during recent years. However, there is a plant that should be around when the cuckoo appears, and that is the cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis), also known as lady’s smock, mayflower or milkmaids. This common crucifer has lovely pink/purple flowers, grows in damp places and is used by the orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterfly for feeding their caterpillars.
April is also when I used to start surveying the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) at Castle Hill National Nature Reserve at Woodingdean. Our University of Sussex scientific study of this species was from 1975 to 2006 and has shown that the flowering time has advanced from 1975 to 2006, by approximately 2.5 weeks. As for seeing the first swallow (Hirundo rustica), I and others are seeing a few swallows during the winter months in recent years, suggesting that some of these normally April birds are not bothering to spend winter in Africa in recent years.
I have seen several yellow brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) butterflies already. They lay their eggs on alder buckthorn trees/shrubs (Frangula alnus). This is quite a rare tree, but commonly found in mixed species hedgerows. Many other trees will have broken bud between the time I write this and when you will read Nature Notes in April. I always feel that this transformation of the countryside can be a very personal experience accompanied by the chorus of courting birds and the buzz of insects. We really must do our best to minimise the damage done by us humans on the natural world and fit in with it rather than dominate it. Nature can be managed, because we are part of it, but we should use a soft touch minimising its destruction while maximising our appreciation of it as space is a very hostile place and we only have one planet Earth.