Bluebells are flowering, swallows are returning and orange-tip butterflies are flying in what could become Britain’s earliest recorded spring.
Records for early spring occurrences are being smashed as 2026 looks to be the earliest this century for frogspawn laying, blackbirds nesting, brimstone butterflies emerging and hazel flowering, according to Nature’s Calendar, which has logged citizen science records of seasonal change since 2000.
This spring has had the earliest egg-laying in an 80-year study of great tits in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, with the 23 March sighting beating the previous record by three days. The birds’ average egg-laying has moved forward by 16 days since the 1960s, with these tits and other species needing to ensure their chicks are fed on caterpillars emerging with the new spring leaves.
Dunsford Woods, in Devon, has logged its earliest tit egg – in the nest of a coal tit – since records began in 1955. Record-breaking early tit egg-laying has been seen in the Netherlands as well, reflecting dramatic climatic shifts across northern Europe.
While some scientific studies have highlighted the risk of “phenological mismatch”, whereby one species synchronised to another cannot keep pace with the climate-induced changes of others, the earlier-laying tits offer hope that species are adapting to early emergences.
Caterpillars are particularly advanced, with the naturalist Matthew Oates finding relatively large caterpillars of midsummer butterflies, including purple emperors, white admirals and silver-washed fritillaries.
“The latter caterpillars should be so small you don’t even notice them,” he said. “We need a ministerial statement on the state of the nation’s caterpillars!”
The first orange-tip butterfly – a harbinger of true spring – was spotted on 18 March this year. Oates saw his first in the Cotswolds on 31 March. Fifty years ago, Oates recorded the typical first emergence as being on 16 April.
He predicts midsummer butterflies could emerge in May this year, which would be the first time since the freakishly hot and dry summer of 1893.
Nature’s Calendar, run by the Woodland Trust and funded by the Postcode Lottery, collects data from volunteers across the country who record any of up to 150 seasonal events.
Alex Marshall, a citizen science officer for Nature’s Calendar, said: “Spring is looking pretty early, and the broad trend is one we see year on year – spring is happening earlier.”
Last year, only one of its spring events – the first sighting of a red-tailed bumblebee – was not earlier than average. “It’s looking like it will be similar to last year, if not a bit earlier again,” Marshall said.
According to provisional figures for Nature’s Calendar, the first frogspawn was laid on average on 23 February, well before the previous earliest average of 5 March; blackbirds were nesting by 4 March and hazel was flowering on 14 January – eight days before the previous earliest average of 22 January in 2024. These averages could change as more records are submitted.
This spring’s growth has been turbo-charged by a relatively warm winter, one of the wettest ever Januaries in many places, and Britain’s joint 10th warmest March on record.
Fears that global heating could jeopardise wildlife, with cold snaps killing off frogspawn and insects and blossom tempted out prematurely by early sunshine, have not come to pass so far this year, although spring species could yet get a battering from Storm Dave.
Grahame Madge, a spokesperson for the Met Office, said the cold spells during the warm March were typical for the month. “March is in effect a transitional month between winter and spring. The month can lean into either direction. Getting the odd cold spell in March isn’t unusual; nature is well cushioned to be able to deal with the odd cold spell here or there and I wouldn’t be too alarmed with that being a sign of climate change.”
The Guardian’s country diarist Nick Acheson said he had been “gobsmacked” by the number of chiffchaffs singing in southern England. The birds are singing much earlier, partly because some are overwintering in the UK rather than migrating south.
“At the same time, the willow warbler has almost vanished, and this is a proven result of climate change,” he said. “That’s the most obvious sacrament of the changing spring.”
While global heating threatens some individual species and ecosystems, scientists and naturalists are still responding to spring like many other species – with renewed vitality and joy.
As violets, celandines, stitchwort and now dandelions and cowslips flower in profusion, the writer Richard Mabey said he had rarely seen such sensational displays of early spring flowers.
He and Oates agree that last summer’s heat, combined with the heavy winter rain, has probably helped produce this spring’s bounty.
“These are very exciting times to be a naturalist,” Oates said. “And the nation needs its naturalists to tell it what’s going on.”
