Although it has not been too wet this winter, it still pays the livestock owners not to overstock their fields. In areas where they do, the poached ground becomes covered in thistles and docks later in the year, which is not good for grazing. It is also not a good idea to spread manure when the fields are waterlogged or frozen because this increases the chances of pollution to the neighbouring watercourses. Any rolling or harrowing of grasslands should be carried out when the weather is fine and before mid-March, to prevent disturbing ground nesting birds. With this mild weather, the grass is growing and so there is less need to feed the animals with hay to supplement their diet. However, we may still have a cold spell to come, in which case this may cause a hiccup for the fauna and flora alike not to mention the farmers and ourselves.

You may hear when out and about the squealing commotion of courting grey squirrels chasing each other from tree to tree. Or from mid-February to early March you may hear the croaking of the mating Common Toad in the evenings. The evenings are noticeably becoming lighter by the day, which allows the birds and animals more time to forage for food in daylight. However, it equally allows more daylight for them to be predated on by foxes and birds of prey.

Already I have seen four species of butterfly and the odd bumblebee too because of this milder weather. The species so far have been the Brimstone, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and the Red Admiral. The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a migrant but they are more frequently over-wintering as a butterfly and taking shelter in garden sheds just to come out again on warm sunny days. They are attracted to the early flowers especially those that have strong smells like the gorse which can be seen in bloom throughout the year but they do have a strong smell that resembles coconuts.

There are a variety of flowers to see this month like Snowdrops, Lesser Celandine, Hazel catkins and the Primrose. The Primroses (Primula vulgaris) are adorning many hedgerows, road verges, woodland floors and old areas of grassland. During medieval times, primroses were collected to make an ointment. The leaves were boiled with lard and used to treat cuts and wounds. Later in the year, on May Day, bunches of primroses were laid on the floor of cattle sheds to protect the cattle from witches. This was because witches were believed to be more active at the beginning of May than any other time of the year. There are two forms of primrose to look out for, those with the stamen at the top of the flower known as “pin-eyed” and the other with the stamen at the bottom of the flower known as “thrum-eyed”. This clever piece of evolution enables the primroses to be pollinated by a variety of insects at this time of year when there are not many insects around.

Before the countryside fills with colourful flowers and leaves on the trees, some of the more overlooked plants that can be seen include those of the fern family. There are just over fifty species of fern in this country. They tend to like damp conditions for fertilisation, to take place. Ferns are flowerless plants reproducing by means of spores not seeds. They are perennials and the leaves first appear as coils, which unroll. A number of ferns have adapted to living happily on walls. Some of the more common species to look out for are the Wall Rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria). This species of fern is found growing on inland walls and can grow up to 10cm long. Another cousin of this one is the larger Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum).

This fern has a black stem to it. It was also once believed to be beneficial to the spleen if dried and then eaten or ground into a powder and mixed with either milk or wine then drunk.

Rustyback (Ceterach officinarum) is not so common to find, but is well-named in that it has an orange hairy underside resembling rust. Then an even rarer fern the Southern Polypody (Polypodium australe) which has two similar cousins, the Western Polypody and Common Polypody in Sussex and are initially very similar in appearance to each other.

They derive their name from the Latin “many feet” which refers to the numerous foot-like divisions of their root system. Looking at the shape of the orange leaf-like shaped “scales” on their stems can really separate them apart. The Southern Polypody has long drawn out scales, whereas the Common Polypody has triangular shaped scales and the Western Polypody is an intermediate stage between the two former mentioned types of scale.

Next month the countryside will come alive with colour and sound so until then have a good time searching for wildlife.