What Are Spring Animals?
The season of Spring is March, April and May, but officially begins around the 20th or 21st March in the UK, known as the vernal equinox which simply means that day and night are the same length. Around this time, you can start to see and hear all sorts of animals in gardens and the countryside as everything starts to come alive again. Fresh buds appear on the trees, flowers begin to appear which will attract the insects and butterflies, animals are starting to awake from their winter hibernation, and birds are starting to sing, with migratory birds beginning to arrive back in the UK.
Over the next few weeks at preschool, we will be focusing a lot on the signs of Spring, the animals we associate with the season and doing lots of related activities. We will be learning about how many of the Spring animals in the UK are mammals, some of which hibernate such as hedgehogs, and when the temperature begins to get warmer and the flowers and plants start to grow, the animals wake up from their deep sleep as food sources become available again. The children may see lambs bouncing happily around the fields, beautiful yellow daffodils appearing and birds building nests ready for their eggs. Ducks, unlike other Spring animals, don't hibernate in winter and instead migrate to a warmer climate and represent a season change by coming back in Spring, so become a symbol of the Spring season.
We will talk about how, in February and March, frogspawn starts to appear in our ponds and streams just below the surface of the water and is especially common by the water’s edge amongst reeds. From March until early summer, you can hear the dawn chorus. This is when birds sing to protect their territories or attract a mate. On average, it begins at 4am, and it’s one of the most obvious signs of Spring in the UK when you’ll likely hear song thrushes, robins, and blackbirds.
We will also be looking at nocturnal animals who hibernate through winter and awake in Spring, including bats who are the only flying mammal and spend the winter in hibernation. When you start to see them at dusk, it's a sign that Spring has arrived! On warm evenings they can be seen seeking insects to eat, having used up their reserves over winter. Hedgehogs are known to forage for over two miles at night and these prickly creatures like to search for food in gardens, especially near log piles and leaf litter. Badgers are another nocturnal Spring animal that are rare to see, with the females (called sows) usually having a litter of cubs in February, so by mid-April badger cubs are big enough to start venturing out into the open, under the watchful eye of their mother.
Spring is also when you start to notice insects, especially bees and butterflies. In March as it starts to warm up, any queen bees that lived in underground nests through the winter, start to look for fresh pollen and nectar to rebuild their strength. They also begin searching for new nesting sites including, grass, and ground holes, which is why you often see them flying near the ground. Bumblebees are attracted to areas where there is a plentiful supply of nectar and pollen so look for them near flowerbeds and hedgerows! Honeybees tend to emerge a bit later in Spring around April, and they stay active until the autumn. This type of bee is more wasp-like in its appearance, and it’s responsible for making honey from pollen and nectar.
Butterflies are one of the most varied and widespread Spring creatures in the UK. As soon as the weather warms up in springtime, butterflies start to appear. The holly blue and orange-tip butterflies spend the cold season as chrysalises so by April the adults emerge. Many other types of native butterflies hibernate as adults and emerge as the Spring warmth arrives. Some types of butterflies, like the red admiral even migrate to the UK from Southern Europe and North Africa!
This week with the children, we will be looking at how Spring influences all the different types of animals we see around us, with activities involving looking at identifying what baby animals are called, making hedgehog pictures with leaves and creating lambs, ducks, piglets and calves out of paper plates! We will watch a video on Spring animals and answer any questions the children have. Not to be missed - this is also the week we have the mini farm visiting us with lambs and chicks, to name a few!
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