Itโs official. Spring comes to Cornwall much earlier than most parts of the UK. But there are plenty of signs of spring starting to appear everywhere now โ although some may be harder to spot than others.
Nanny Pat, Megan and Wilf have been playing nature detective at Trelissick. They searched high and low to find as many signs of spring as they could. Hereโs a selection of what they found.
There were bluebell leaves pushing up through the leaf carpet, snowdrops, primroses and plenty of catkins. One of the highlights of the walk was finding a huge fungus growing on a tree that looked just like a giant pasty!
The birds are also busy at this time of year, gathering food, courting and starting to build nests. If you can be really still and quiet, itโs amazing how many you can see. Curious robins hop closer, watching you watching them. Blackbirds are busy turning over leaves, looking for insects. If youโre really lucky, you might still spot some of the more unusual winter visitors like redwings, fieldfares or bramblings.
Itโs great to see the land waking up after the winter. The green shoots and scattered early flowers will soon be followed by swathes of colour as first the snowdrops, then the daffodils take centre stage.
Cornwallโs gardens
This year, six of Cornwallโs best-loved gardens โ Caerhays Castle Gardens, Trebah Garden, Tregothnan, Trewidden, Trewithen and Trengwainton โ will be celebrating the arrival of spring with their โspring storyโ. Theyโll be keeping track of the number of flowers on their champion magnolia trees (a champion tree is an outstanding example of its species, usually because of its size, age, or historical significance) and reporting the count on the website. Once three trees each have fifty blooms, itโs officially spring.
You can follow the progress of the spring story online on the Great Gardens of Cornwall website or on Twitter @Gr8Gardens #springstory. You can also find out more about the gardens and the head gardeners who look after them.
And if you fancy a trip down to Cornwall to explore the gardens yourself, why not take a look at our short breaks?
Have you spotted many signs of spring where you are? Weโd love to see your pictures of anything youโve found growing in your garden or local area โ or of you on your own hunt for spring.
