Walton Hall Nature Trail, what's on March

Spring is late this year due to the cold weather in January and February. In the centre of campus, under the oak trees, snowdrops eventually came through a week or two late and the winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) only managed to open their flowers on one or two days between cold snaps - flowers only open when the temperature is above 10°C. There have been large numbers of redwings and other winter thrushes around eating the hawthorn berries.

Plants Some of the many cultivated varieties of daffodils on campus should be well into flowering. A few of the plants look rather like the wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) with its paler tepals. Wild daffodils are still common in a few very scattered woods round the country but it used to be common in many parts of England and Wales. To see abundant wild daffodils in their native habitat then you need to visit the woods near Dymock in Gloucestershire, the Lake District or Yorkshire.
Trees such as willow, poplar, elm, hazel and yew are also starting to flower.
Birds Rooks are be well into building their nests at the very tops of trees. Apparently there used to be a thriving rookery in the centre of campus but after some rather zealous tree surgery removed the thin high branches they mostly moved out to the oak trees on the edge of campus.
The resident swans have been looking round for suitable nest sites and may have chosen somewhere low down along the river again, this may not be entirely wise as a late spring flood could wash the nest away (update - there was a flood and the swans have moved to Walton Lake for the moment).
Amphibians Amphibians are starting to emerge so look out for them especially on mild damp nights. Frogs tend to move before toads, the newts span the whole migration period. Anyone on campus late at night (8.00 to midnight), or outside elsewhere, should keep an eye out for amphibians on roads and redways. Male toads may regard open areas as good vantage points to spot migrating females. This is a difficult hypothesis to test, but they can often be found sitting upright on paths and roads. Not such a great search strategy since the arrival of modern road traffic. (contributed by John Baker).
River Frosts and winter floods have caused several new areas of erosion creating vertical mud banks, these could be ideal sites for kingfisher nests later in the year.

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