For the past three days temperatures have soared in the North of England and the sun has shone from a clear blue sky. I took my camera into the garden this morning to look for signs of Spring…and found plenty.

Fly Drinking Nectar

It’s Tuesday, the 12th February and since Sunday we’ve had gloriously warm days with clear skies. We may have woken up in the early morning to a light frost, and needed the heating on as you’d expect at this time of year, but by 10.00am the frost has melted to a mere memory and the temperature has risen high enough to make the heating unbearable. It’s a lucky coincidence that this week is half term. The kids are loving it just as much as they enjoyed the brief fall of snow two weeks ago.

Not sure if this is a bee or a wasp. Yesterday I saw a queen bee.

As you can see from the photographs, the insects are out in force. It’s quite usual for a few flies to appear briefly if the sun shines in winter, but I’ve never seen bees do this. They seem to know when it’s really Spring. And as for ladybirds, well, this one below certainly looks convinced.

Ladybird Enjoying the Early Sunshine

The plants are also waking up. My daffodil and tulip bulbs began making an appearance a few weeks ago, back in January. Some of them have got quite big although none have flowered yet.

Daffodils

These primulas have been flowering since December.

Primulas

One of my favourite shrubs is my flowering currant which usually bursts into pink and white blossom around Easter time. By the look of these buds it will be out way before then.

Opening buds on a flowering currant bush.

It’s been more obvious this winter that the birds haven’t migrated, but stayed here. It used to be a common sight in October to see them flocking together before flying off en masse. That didn’t happen last October. Now, in early February, they’re in full song.

Last year we had a mini heat wave in March, this year it’s a month earlier. Who knows, next year it might be Spring at Christmas! There is a more serious side to this though. I’m convinced now, if I was a bit skeptical before, that global warming is happening and happening faster than first thought. It’s very nice to think winter may be over before it really started but when will things settle down to a predictable, steady pattern again? Just how hot will it get? And why are we not preparing for the future? Isn’t it time to make some pretty big changes in the way we’re living? This may not be a pleasant thought, but we owe it to our kids and grandkids to at least face up to it and try to secure them a safe future.