LOOK LOCALLY

Across the country there are astonishing locations to see spring in its full glory. Most towns and cities will have avenues of cherry blossom

that will soon burst into flower: one of the country’s

finest examples is on the Stray in the North Yorkshire

spa town of Harrogate. The Wildlife Trusts reserve of Brockholes in Lancashire teems with hares, which in

March will start their famous boxing routine as

the breeding season commences. Pamber Forest in Hampshire explodes with wild daffodils while later in the season at Fingringhoe Wick overlooking the Colne

Estuary in Essex it is possible to hear the mellifluous tones of the nightingale – a bird now sadly absent from much of our countryside. During lockdown the majority of Wildlife Trusts

remain open to visitors although it is stressed that

all visitors follow the guidelines and stay local. We live in strange times with restrictions on our

freedoms, where it is possible for a spring walk to be disturbed by the whirr of

a police drone. However Dom Higgins, head of health

and education at the Wildlife Trusts, stresses wherever you are should not prevent you from enjoying spring. The joy of the season is its profusion everywhere.

“That everyday small experience of just getting out and seeing what you can find on your doorstep has

become increasingly important,” he says. “You can find a few trees near your house or you can stop

and take notice of an unexpected plant poking through a garden wall or hedge. To find pleasure in the beauty of every day does

require a bit of slowing down – you are engaging all

of your senses.”