Spotting spawn so early begets a bittersweet feeling

AFTER the big freeze, the downpours: the weather this weekend looks set to continue the recent trend of soggy, squally days.

The north and east of the country can expect to be particularly inundated with rain. Expect, too, a brisk wind leading to gales in places.

My garden pond, frozen solid for much of the past few weeks, is now brimming and gurgling like primordial soup. It may seem too early in winter to be considering such things, but in its murky depths new life is already beginning to stir.

Indeed for the first time in its 12-year history, the Freshwater Habitats Trust has announced that it has commenced its annual PondNet Spawn Survey this December, rather than January as usual, because sightings are being reported increasingly early.

Anyone can take part in the survey, regardless of owning a pond. Although even if you have the smallest garden you really should because they are perhaps the single best thing you can do for wildlife, and also more engrossing than any Christmas boxset.

Mine is little more than a small hole in the ground, but I have poured hours into watching the array of life it holds.

The survey is a simple exercise. All it requires is spotting any spawn when you are walking around your local area and recording it on the Freshwater Habitats Trust website.

Since its inception in 2012, a growing number of people are contributing sightings – and the spawn is arriving ever earlier. Last year the first sighting was recorded on the Isles of Scilly in late December. Hampshire recorded its earliest sighting on Jan 9. Even in Scotland, spawn was spotted by Feb 3.

Each year spring seems to be arriving earlier, marching up the country at an ever frenetic pace.

It prompts a bittersweet feeling: the ancient joy of observing new life, tempered by the uneasy sensation that things are not working as they should.*

A woman is rescued from her car after heavy rain caused floods in Essex