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The birds are singing, the grass is rising, the time of year for hope is here! So goes the old English saying. What is it about spring that makes it special?

It is the renewal of everything. Plants which have been dormant, sleeping away the cold winter months start to come alive, birds who have had to get by on what they can find or the kind hearts of people who feed them suddenly find food is more abundant. Insects start to appear. A few at first and then many, seeking nutrient rich nectar from the new flowers.

Mating is everywhere from frogs with their incessant croaking- frog spawn appears and is jealously guarded in the pond by the males, the water rippling and bubbling as they fend off rivals, to birds calling, pairing, fighting and cooing in the branches.

Nests appear in the strangest of places, from mice in the compost heap, shredding bits of paper and hay to make a warm, secure nest, to birds nesting in boxes,trees and even my old wellington boot has become home to a pair of robins. Left outside in winter as it smelt and needed a clean, the birds found their ideal 'pied a terre' and have filled it with leaves, sticks and now the round shape of a nest has appeared. The boot lies on its side on the brick low wall by the compost heap and you can see in if you bend down.

Everything is preparing for the new arrivals which will come soon and herald the real start of spring. The parent birds and mice will be frantically searching for food, the tadpoles will appear and have to hide from newts and larger fish who will see them as free lunch.

Spring heralds not only the awakening but the start of the most frantic time of the year - and a dangerous one for many of our wild creatures.

As I dig in the garden, I shall expect the blackbird and Mr Robin to be close by, hoping I will turn up a juicy grub or worm. Then they will dart in when my back is turned (or when I deliberately turn it) and triumphantly retrieve the morsel for their brood. We have been doing this for years now and parent birds pass on the tip to their chicks.

Much as we love our newts who have come to live in the pond, we shall move some of the tadpoles to a pond where no newts live so at least some frogs will result from the frantic mating currently going on. Just before they become adults, we shall pop them back into the pond so they will return to breed there next year.

The plants have buds, some leaf buds, many flower buds and I know they are just going to burst one morning and fill the garden with colors and scents.

The light is different in spring. Gone are the cool depths of winter, to be replaced by sparkles and shafts of light streaming through the leaves which are now appearing in the wood, spreading out and filtering the sunlight as it hits them.

Seeds will be stimulated to germinate by the warmth and increase in day light (a photo periodic response no less!) and I know that soon I am going to have to mow and weed with enthusiasm.
Ferns and bracken will shortly appear, their fronds slowly unfurling as they reach for the sky and perennial plants who have disappeared for the winter will appear as if by magic, stimulated to grow leaves and start the process of flowering.

Yet, for now, all is quiet and spring seems to be just starting, the earth is just wakening and the season is filled with the promises of better, brighter days to come.

Learn more about this author, Sammy Stein.
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