It feels like it’s been a particularly long winter this year, and so the arrival of March is so very welcome. Who doesn’t love the promise of tree blossom, carpets of wildflowers, bird song and longer sunny days!

In the Woods this Month

It’s the perfect time to spot those first spring wildflowers which we love so much!

These early wildflowers, like little floral gems nestled on the forest floor, are a joy to stumble across. Here are a few favourites to spot this month:

• Wood Anemone
• Primroses
• Daffodils
• Sweet Violet
  
• Lesser Celandine

This month I'll be looking out for these spring time wildflowers starting to emerge on my woodland rambles, including keeping an eye on a spot I've found in my local woods which gets absolutely covered with wonderful wood anemones!

March also signals the start of the spring migration where over the next few months birds will arrive from thousands of miles away. If you’re interested in finding out who will be coming and when, the RSPB has put together a rather handy ‘arrivals board’ with the typical arrival and departure times of our migrant birds.

A Little Nature Connection

A podcast to try: As the Season Turns

I’ve been so enjoying tuning into this podcast at the beginning of each month. I can definitely recommend it for any nature lover who likes to feel in tune with the seasons (yes pun intended!).

“Each episode is released on the first of the month and follows the changing landscape of the seasons - from the moon and the stars, to the tides and the trees.” As the Season Turns Podcast

In the Studio this Month

There’s always a buzz of excitement and a shift of energy with the arrival of a new season, especially spring. New ideas are emerging as if coming out of hibernation! But for now I’d love to share something new I’ve been working on…

I’ve been exploring the world of hawfinches as I work on a new painting featuring these beautiful birds…

Hawfinches are the UK’s largest finch and they have huge bills allowing them to easily crack open seeds (in fact their scientific name coccothraustes coccothraustes means kernel-cracker!) But even with their large size and distinctive bill, they’re very shy birds and very rarely spotted.

In this new design I’ll be painting two hawfinches, a male and a female, nestled in a spring time woodland with blossoming rowan and hawthorn.

Art Print of the Month

Chaffinches (for all my fellow spring lovers out there!)

This art print features these wonderful birds among blackthorn blossom and primroses in an early springtime woodland when the season is just beginning! A reminder that new life and brighter days of spring always follow a long winter...

Explore the Chaffinch Art Print Here