I can’t wait to…

…HEAR NIGHTINGALES

Its looks are plain (what birders call a little brown job) but its song inspired Homer, Milton and

Keats. Nightingales return from Africa to select woods south of the Severn-Wash line in early April, and every spring I walk out at twilight and listen. Males croon for a partner for just a few weeks; their tunes remind me of

Ross’s music in Friends in that you never know quite what’s coming next from their 1000-sound repertoire – a jackhammer staccato, a keening whistle, an elastic whoop. Despite the name, nightingales sing in the day too, but they’re easier to find as dusk falls and most (but not all) other species pack up for a snooze. Jenny Walters, Features Editor

…WALK YELLOW

Oilseed rape has become the superstar arable crop of recent decades. The colour reflects the sun, and its pungent aroma (rape is part of the mustard family) is weirdly alluring. It’s used in vegetable oils, spreads, mayo and salads, and the seeds are used for animal feed and biofuel. It also adds nourishing nitrogen to the soil, making it healthier for later crops like wheat. Not everyone’s a fan of it for various reasons, some ecological, some aesthetic. But for better or worse, these days it’s hard to think of late spring and early summer without it. This field in Shropshire’s Clun Valley was particularly dazzling. Nick Hallissey, Deputy Editor

…WEAR SHORTS

My legs have delivered the most memorable experiences of my life yet I’ve always regarded them as belonging out of sight – like the inner workings of an escalator.

But as age has disinhibited me, I find myself deciding this is the year I will Wear

Shorts. Think of the advantages: frictionless motion, new acreage of skin with which to harvest Vitamin D, the Duran Duran glamour of brown legs; and that pleasurably pampered feeling of finally pulling on trousers again – like putting the weekend car back in the garage. You might see me. A flash of white. Appalled kids. The far-off look of a zealot for knees in the breeze. Guy Procter, Editor