Spring came a little earlier this year – there were the first signs in the neighbourhood in early March, the greeny-brown tinge appearing on trees, a couple of weeks earlier than in recent years. The early flowering trees in the Forest Garden – almond, black cherry plum, apricot and peach – put on a good show around this time, along with the hazel and alder catkins and the goat willow. This was followed by the greengage, mirabelle and cherry in mid-March and fruit and forest trees started leafing out around this time too.

And then on March 25/26th, the cuckoo flower and the cuckoo put on their double act! This synchronism never ceases to amaze me, but it seems to be infallible, and they were a good week earlier than last year. A friend recently told me about the Merlin bird identification app, and while not needing it for the cuckoo, it is proving very useful and interesting for identifying other birds by recording their song, and giving me an indicator of species variety in the Forest Garden. For example, between April 11th and 13th, there were blackbird, blackcap, chaffinch, great tit, sparrow, goldfinch, robin and wood pigeon in several 30-second samples.

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