Early February finds the first flowering snowdrops tentatively appearing along south facing hedgerow banks. By the middle of the month they seem to be everywhere, and in places their form a delightful green and white carpet. Despite being found right across the country, and in probably every woodland, snowdrops are not a native plant. They have been with us for well over a thousand years, and few would begrudge them being here. They’re often accompanied by winter aconite, its yellow petals sporting a generous ruff of leaves beneath them. The leaves only fall open to expose the flower when the temperature has exceeded exactly ten centigrade.

In our gardens blue tits are already pairing. The two birds fly about excitedly, leapfrogging over each other in the bare twigs. Song Thrushes have begun singing again after the winter lay-off; their clear, flute-like notes, repeated several times. Even a fragment of warm settled weather will induce the garden greenfinches to continually utter their strange slurping call from the treetops. Skylarks, keen for the approaching spring, are high above the grazing marshes singing encouragement for its return. On NWT’s Hickling Broad & Marshes the coot are still formed up in large flotillas of several hundred, but many of the winter wildfowl such as teal, gadwall and goldeneye are preparing for a journey back to their breeding grounds around the Baltic. With egg laying imminent, February finds rooks repairing their nests, along with all their other neighbours in the rookery. The male flies in with a beakful of mud or a stick, and the female works it into the structure. If you have a rookery near your house, I don’t need to tell you that it is accompanied by much cawing by the both of them.

With spring around the corner, and the nesting season fast approaching, habitat management work on the reserves is now concluding at some pace. Staff and volunteers in the Broads and at Cley, look for spells of dry weather, with preferably a light breeze, to conclude the season’s reed-cutting. Coppicing continues in the woodland reserves. On the heathlands, silver birch sapling are removed and patches of tired scraggly gorse is cut back. It is a time when boardwalk and bird hide repairs are completed, in anticipation of increased visitor numbers in the spring. A new memorial bench on a raised platform has been installed by staff and volunteers at NWT Thorpe Marshes. It is a superb vantage point, and proving a great spot to see water rail, marsh harrier and water voles, and with some patience and luck, otter too.

In fact Matt Wickens, Urban Nature Reserves Manager, has found convincing evidence of otters frequenting the reserve. This probably doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as an otter has been seen swimming in Wensum River in the centre of Norwich recently. But, it is worth reminding ourselves of conservation success stories. Just thirty years ago it would have been difficult to imagine peregrine falcon nesting on the cathedral, red kite drifting over the city centre, and otters in the Wensum River. The evidence of otter lays in their distinctive droppings, known as ‘spraints’. Although made up of mostly fish scales and bones, it has a surprisingly pleasant smell, rather like jasmine tea. This is very different from mink ‘scats’ that have a more familiar, and less appealing smell. The American mink, is an invasive and destructive non-native species. The water vole, a favoured target of mink, has become increasingly rare as a result - although they can still be found in small numbers at Thorpe Marshes. The larger otter is intolerant of American mink and will often drive them off. This is of huge benefit to our under threat water voles, and a promising sign for there recovery at Thorpe Marshes.

At NWT Roydon Common and Tony Hallett Memorial Reserve, the ‘WetScapes’ project continues to improve and re-create the natural water flow across this ancient landscape; making impressive improvements for the distinct, and in many cases, rare wildlife that inhabits it. The work, with the help of a large digger, has created pools, improved the profile of dykes and re-instated the course of a former stream. Interestingly, during the work a chalybeate spring (water rich in iron salts) was exposed. Natural springs, more often, percolate up hidden by moss and vegetation, and apart from the boggy ground one would not know it was there. In the footage taken by Reserve Manager Ash Murry the spring can clearly be seen bubbling up out of the ground. Ash explained: “The iron rich water issuing from the Sandringham Sands aquifer has a low pH, iron being soluble at <pH3.5 is held in solution. As the water emerges and mixes with rainwater and the overlying chalky surface soil, its pH increases and the iron precipitates out, giving rise to the ochre staining”. Fascinating stuff, and why Roydon Common, its geology and wildlife are so unique and special.

At Roydon Common, and elsewhere around the county, wintering hen harrier numbers have been higher than usual. Female hen harriers normally migrate further south in winter, and in Norfolk often out-number the beautiful blue-grey male hen harriers three to one. The female, although drab brown, is still a wonderful sight, with its white rump being its main distinguishing marking. But, on a cold overcast winter’s afternoon it is truly exhilarating to see a ghost blue male hen harrier, with it contrasting black wing-tips, quartering a lonely marsh. February saw three males frequenting NWT Hickling Broad and Marshes and a further two were at NWT Upton Broad and Marshes.

Taking action for wildlife

Why did the toad cross the road? To get to its ancestral spawning pond of course! Late February is the time of year that, up and down the country, hundreds of volunteers man the verges of roads that dissect toad migration routes. Tens of thousands of frogs and toads are killed on our roads during migration, and in former years this would have been considerably higher. Now, in know problem areas, teams of volunteers collect the toads in buckets to carry them safely to the other side. Squashed amphibians isn’t a pleasant sight for anyone, and in some parts of the country it has prompted the closure of roads during the few weeks of spring migration. In areas where volunteers assist toads, casualty rates have decreased by 80 to 90%.

Despite increased bird activity, the start of March is not too late to put up a bird box in your garden. Suburban blue and great tits rely almost exclusively on nest boxes, and of course the odd Royal Mail letterbox. March is also a good time to consider sprinkling some wildflower seeds in the garden. Digging over a small patch in a sunny spot, then lacing it with native wildflower seeds will add a splash of colour in the summer, and of course attract nectar feeding insects too.

Wildlife to look for in March

With the wild geese having left us, we wait in anticipation for the first chiff chaff to call from the blossom filled cherry plum trees. Mistle thrush have been calling constantly through February and will continue in March. They sing a rather dry, but vibrant chattering song, often from the tallest tree. They can be heard even in heavy rain or a hailstorm, giving rise to their old country name Stormcock. A warm day can find a recently emerged adder basking by the side of a sandy path. This time of year they can seem sluggish, still in a chill under the weak spring sunshine, none-the-less do give it a wide-berth. On lakes and broads look out for great crested grebes performing their rather endearing courtship dance. The male follows the female in a display of head bobbing, waterweed shaking and synchronised swimming. Its her test to check his devotion and obedience.

If February didn’t produce a butterfly, March will. Several species hibernate in the UK, but the first to emerge is the sulphur-yellow brimstone butterfly. On the first warm days, do remember to leave open the garden-shed door so as to let out peacock or tortoiseshell butterflies that may have spent the winter in there.