NATURE — Birds Are Singing Despite The Late Winter Icy Blast

WEATHER-wise, the final weekend in February was a cracker, with a virtually cloudless sky and wall-to-wall sunshine, writes David Carnduff.

The Cut Centre at Loch Thom and Lunderston Bay were busy with people glad to get out and about in dry, but cold, conditions. However, any thoughts that spring was just around the corner were kept in check by dire warnings from the Met Office that the “Beast from the East” was on its way.

A wintry scene in the countryside near Inverkip

That was the name given to the icy blast originating in Siberia that’s brought the coldest spell of weather in five years. It’s proof that late winter can be a frustrating time for people longing for better weather. Just when you think spring is arriving, the wind shifts to the north or east and we are back in winter’s icy grasp.

In fact, one of the worst snowstorms of recent times occurred at the end of March, 2013. It was so bad, a full-scale emergency was declared on Arran where many small communities were cut off by massive snowdrifts. Other areas were also caught unawares by the severity of the storm and it prompted many towns, including Largs, to set up community resilience teams to prepare for emergencies caused by severe weather or other factors.

Weather aside, growing hours of daylight during February and March prompts many bird species to start singing as a prelude to the breeding season. Dunnocks, chaffinches, song thrushes and blackbirds were singing enthusiastically on the last Sunday of February when I strolled through one local woodland which was attractively carpeted with snowdrops.

However, it’s too early for the first summer visitors to join the growing spring chorus. The chiffchaff, a small warbler that winters around the Mediterranean, is usually the first to arrive in Inverclyde and can be heard calling its name in woodland towards the end of March.

During a recent holiday in southern Spain I noted lots of chiffchaffs foraging for insect food among wayside plants and shrubs. When they arrive in Scotland in the lean, mean days of early spring they tend to inhabit mature woods with tall trees, where they seem to glean enough insect food to sustain them even if the notoriously fickle Scottish weather turns nasty.

With March roaring in like a lion from the East, let’s hope she will be true to the old weather lore and go out like a lamb. Some hope indeed!