| Help plot changes in nature's calendar | |
|  | | Keep watch for your first ladybird |
| | Play an important part in helping to record shifts in nature’s calendar and help protect our wildlife and woodland for future generations.
Find out how you can help record the arrival of Spring by taking part in a simple survey. |
| | | Many people won't have even heard of the word phenology, let alone know what it means.
Phenology is the science of recording natural regularly occurring events such as the arrival Spring and Autumn.
It involves going out and collecting information about when certain things happen, and then watching for any changes over a number of years.
This year the BBC and the Woodland Trust is launching Springwatch, the biggest ever survey into the unfolding of ring across the UK.
Everyone across Devon is being invited to watch out for the first arrival of six key species: frog spawn, bumblebee, ladybird, peacock butterfly, hawthorne and swift.
Your sightings will help scientists understand how Spring is changing and what needs to be done to help wildlife in the county thrive.
 | | Look out for the first bumble bees in February. |
You don't have to be an expert to join Springwatch, it's something everybody can get involved in and it can be a lot of fun.
For example, you could keep a record of the date that you first see a frog spawn in your garden pond, and then do the same the year afterwards.
Maybe you would prefer to look out for the first ladybird or bumble bee.
If you, your family and friends would like to help record the arrival of Spring you can
send in your sightings by visiting the Springwatch website.
Regardless of how much or how little time you have to spare you can help protect our wildlife and woodland for future generations to come.
Jill Attenborough, Phenology Project Manager for the Woodland Trust said: "Each observation will help us to understand more about how our plants and animals are responding to a changing climate.
"Wherever you are there is always something to see. We even want to know the first date you cut your lawn."
Historic records help make predictions
Over the past 30 years phenology has provided biologists with clear evidence that spring is arriving earlier.
In spring 2002, more than 2000 people recorded each of over a dozen events.
The most popular of all was the first sighting of bumblebee with over 3,500 observations.
Phenology offers real evidence that climate change is happening now and that it is already having a significant effect on our wildlife.
Trees are coming into leaf sooner, and some typical spring flowers are increasingly being seen coming into bloom in November and December.
 | | Higher temperatures mean species like the snowdrop flower earlier. |
Butterflies are appearing earlier, and two woodland birds - chiffchaff and blackcap - are increasingly over-wintering in the UK.
The 20th Century has seen a steady increase in temperature.
In 2003 the warmest March to August period on record was recorded in the UK - with temperatures 1.73 degrees above the long term average.
Records began in 1875
Phenology provides some of the longest written biological records in Britain.
The Royal Meteorological Society established a national recording network for Phenological observations in 1875 and this ran until 1948.
The wealth of historical phenological records allows us to examine the trends from the past and make cautious predictions of what may happen to species in the future.
Visitors to the Springwatch website can recorders enabling them to monitor the arrival of spring and autumn across the country.
Article revised: 4th February 2005
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