Signs of spring

'A particular favourite of mine is townhall clock (Adoxa moschatellina), so named for the four faces of its small greenish flower head.

'This small, delicate-looking plant dies away completely by May or June. Look for it around the base of trees and on banks often at the edges of woods. Its divided leaves look a little like wood anemone, with which it often grows.'

It's on a woodland walk that you'll spot one of the Britain's best-loved spring flowers: the native bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta. The UK is home to about half of the world's bluebell population. Their dainty bells carpet our woods in blue. April to June is the best time to see this spectacle.

2. Blooms, blossom and catkins

There's also much to look out for in gardens, neighbourhood parks or even along local streets.

The familiar bright yellow heads of daffodils bobbing in the breeze brighten lawns and roadside verges, while delicate cherry blossom brings spring to the heart of many towns.

He says, 'My sign of spring is the first buds on the hawthorn in my back garden. It's about three metres tall and is the first of my trees to start budding each year.

'At first the tiny buds look almost like a heavy dew in the morning, but soon the little green leaves will start poking through.'

4. Return of migrant birds

Dr Joanne Cooper, Senior Curator of Birds, must wait a bit longer to see her favourite sign of spring.

She says, 'The most keenly anticipated (even magical) moment of my spring usually comes in mid-April. It's when I hear a distinctive, bright chirruping call and see a bold flicker of black and white dive in over the garden and swoop up to the round mud nests tucked under our cottage's eaves: the house martins are back!'

House martins build their nests using more than 1,000 beak-sized pellets of mud. This can take them around 10 days, although the birds aren't adverse to doing home repairs and reusing old nests.

You can help out these little lodgers by having areas of damp mud in your garden, if you have a nearby building with eaves or an overhang.

5. Newt nooky

Telltale early signs of spring can be spotted in your local pond.

Steph West, the Museum's UK Biodiversity Training Manager, says:

'When people think of ponds in spring, seeing frogspawn may be the first thing that comes to mind, but these are not the only amphibians using ponds at this time of year. 

'Our three native newt species will have spent the winter tucked away in hibernacula, perhaps old log piles or rocks. Come spring, though, there is only one thing on their minds - although newts spend most of their lives hunting on land, they mate and lay their eggs in ponds.

'In male newts, spring prompts the production of extravagant physical features such as crests, huge tails with bright silver flashes and, in the case of the palmate newt, gigantic back feet. Meanwhile the females will be searching for the perfect leaf to safely wrap their individually laid eggs.'

Toads also often wrap their spawn in submerged vegetation, but they lay it in long strings. Frogspawn is what you see in clumps.

The increasing abundance of insects in the spring is appreciated by many larger animals that dine on them.

Steph is very fond of one such group.

'The first bats flying about are true heralds of spring,' she says. 'Most UK bat species have spent the winter in hibernation, tucked away in places like caves to escape the harsh winter weather and survive through months of little available prey.

'By spring they have used up their fat reserves and are hungry - particularly the pregnant females as mating season was in autumn - so you can see them out and about on any warm evening, hoovering up any available insects they can find.

'Keep an eye out over lakes, ponds and rivers on warm evenings and you might spot a bat gleaning insects over the water.'

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