News from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust with Ellen Winters.

In the face of much uncertainty, the joy of looking for and sharing the everyday signs of the changing seasons and working together to protect what we can, locally and globally, is a recognition of our innate link to the natural world and each other.

In the sky, spring is already coming. The blue tits are churring as they investigate my nest box. The great tits are toink toinking every morning, and the thrush sings his heart out from the top branches of the cherry tree.

On the ground the winter flowers are giving way – snowdrops are now setting seed, but bluebell shoots are spearing through the leaf litter, and crocuses are still avidly amassing the mild sunshine in their fragile goblets ready for the bees.

Out in the fields, brown hares are starting their annual display of pugnacity, as females test and deter persistent suitors. Although not native to the UK, brown hares have made their way into hearts and folklore, and people are now worried that they are disappearing, in part due to the spread of two fatal diseases across the country. Not ‘fluffy bunnies’, hares are distinguished by their larger size, longer blacker ears, and leaner build than rabbits. If you see one please let us know at gcer@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk

Down by the pools and canal, frogs are embarking on their spin-the-wheel breeding strategy, where maybe 1 in 400 eggs laid might survive to breed next year. Much of the spawn becomes a nutritious banquet enjoyed by almost every other animal that can reach it – hedgehogs, blackbirds, newts, beetles, fish and ducks to name a few.

Toads start to migrate later than frogs and there is a team of more than 150 amazing volunteers who patrol roads at dusk and carry toads to safety toward their breeding ponds. The nights around the full moon at the start of March are likely to be busy for toad patrollers if the weather is mild and damp.

Stroud Wildlife Survey group volunteers have nearly finished searching for rare nocturnal rugged oil beetles, but they have a full programme for the rest of the year covering topics such as wildflower identification, freshwater invertebrate surveying in the Frome, and photography on Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserves to keep them as busy.

If you would like to know more about local wildlife, events and courses this spring there is information at gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk.