Earlier this week when I was walking around the Lodge reserve a bumblebee flew straight into me, bounced off and carried on across the ridge, my first of the year, I hope it was able to find a few flowers to feed on! It has been noticeably milder this week and this change in temperature seems to have spurred many creatures into life. On looking at some Birdtrack records it appears that some swallows have been seen already in Cornwall and Essex, (possibly migrants or were they over wintering?) have you spotted any migrants yet? I would expect sand martins and wheatears to be popping up very soon so keep a look out!

As for the gardens and woodlands, listen out for woodpeckers drumming, great tits, chaffinches and wrens in full song and keep an eye out for woodland flowers bursting into life. The daffodils here are nearly ready to flower and the bluebell foliage is starting to show through the leaf litter! we'd love to see your pictures of spring in bloom.

Other creatures emerging from a winter slumber include amphibians, the frogs in the pond that I dug a couple of years ago have this week croaked into action, i'm hoping for frogspawn in the next few weeks! How are your ponds doing, any signs of life yet?

I've just returned from Newcastle where we delivered some training to our colleagues in the regional office, great city and people, we even got a chance to do a bit of birding along the Tyne with curlew, teal, redshank, shelduck and a sparrowhawk being the highlights!