I can’t wait to…

…SEE SWIFTS

Look up and you might see the first swifts arrive on our shores from sub-Saharan Africa for their three-month UK summer holiday – a sure sign for me that spring has sprung. But look up you must, because these birds live almost all their lives on the wing (even sleeping). They don’t ask for much, just warm weather and a supply of flying insects that stand no chance against the UK’s fastest bird in level flight – up to

70mph! And if you don’t see them, you might hear them… they band together for screaming parties at dusk – much like nextdoor’s teenagers – calling loudly and careering at high speeds.

Marie Marsh, Production Editor

…SMELL WILD GARLIC

I walk fast in winter to keep warm, but when warmer weather releases me from the marching spell I wander aimlessly in woodland and let things happen to me. Once a dragonfly perched on my trouserleg; another time I smelt this wonderfully warm cooking smell. It was wild garlic. Not just fragrant, but pretty; and not just a trick of the nose, but it tastes like garlic too – in a milder, more salad-leaf way which makes it perfect for sprinkling on pizza or processing into pesto. The leaves and flowers are edible, but the olfactory blast is a thing of joy, like spring inviting you to join it at life’s table.

Guy Procter, Editor

…HEAR BUMBLEBEES

These stripey fluffballs are impossibly cute and improbably airborne, and the sound of them motoring along is a sure sign of warmer days.

The rapid vibration (230 beats a second) of their four wings produces a deep hum – their Latin name bombus means booming – and they often buzz inside flowers to shake out pollen, emerging like sugar-dusted doughnuts. There are 24 different species in Britain and the earliest are usually queen bees, some as big as 2cm, out on the hunt for nectar after a winter hibernating in the soil, and then a new nest site to start laying their worker eggs. Jenny Walters, Features Editor