Norfolk Nature: Spring 2026 Part 2.
SPRING 2026: Part 2 Spring is a more elastic season than perhaps it's given credit for. The first signs of light - soaring raptors, birdsong and blossom, the hardy celandines and crocuses poking their flowers skyward - are greeted with such relief after the dregs of winter that thoughts often leapfrog to summer abundance. Spring moves at an average speed of 1.9mph across the UK from March, temperature depending, from the SW to the NE, although there are individual speeds for various natural events. While the bullace has bloomed already, and bird cherry and blackthorn have flared in the hedgerow, the hawthorn drumsticks are popping on the branches, beating out the season's rhythm and building to its finale: that first great flush of flowering set against blue skies, and the lush, bright, green-and-white understorey of cow parsley and alexanders which is never quite replicated in the rest of the year. Hawthorn blossom spreads nationwide at an average speed of 6.3mph, laying th...