Global warming makeover -
spring becomes summer

New signs of climate change emerging from leading phenological survey

It’s official! Spring is the new summer.

Everyone has noticed that it’s a bit hot for the time of year with people sunbathing in April, but the UK’s leading survey into the changing seasons – The Nature's Calendar Survey run by the Woodland Trust –has discovered something much more peculiar.

So, as April becomes the new May, the question on everyone’s lips at the UK’s foremost woodland conservation charity the Woodland Trust is, what’s going on?

Hawthorn blossom and swifts

Two traditionally regarded events of nature to signify that summer has arrived are hawthorn flowering and the return of migrating swifts.

Dr Kate Lewthwaite of the Woodland Trust comments:“One of the most famous vernacular names for the hawthorn is the May-tree.

Culturally and historically it is seen as signifying the
start of summer, but thanks to the exceptionally mild start to the year we have been experiencing, this summer signal is arriving three weeks earlier than the 11 May average.”

Hawthorn has much mysticism surrounding it

• According to Celtic mythology, hawthorn is the most likely plant to be inhabited by fairies.
  
• If a twig of hawthorn is tied together with red thread with twigs from an oak and ash, it will provide protection from fairies.
  
  
• One folk custom was to tie ribbons or rags onto hawthorn trees on May Day as gifts to the fairies.
  
  
• Hawthorn used to be called ‘Bread and Cheese’ due to the young leaves being added to sandwiches by country folk. Many rituals are associated with hawthorn.
  
  
• In pagan times, the king and queen of May were killed at the end of the tree's growing season and during May Day festivities the flowers were used in garlands and branches were cut, set in the ground outside houses and decorated with wild flowers.
  
  
• During the country custom of "going a-Maying" branches would be cut to adorn doorways - although hawthorn is rarely flowering on 1 May, it would have been flowering on the old May Day of 13 May prior to 1732. Its purpose was to protect from evil spirits.
  
  
• Hawthorn was also generally gathered on May Day morning, interwoven and placed on doors and windows - the weaving was important because it strengthened the plant's magical powers, as did its covering with overnight dew.
  
  
• Two famously celebrated hawthorns are the Glastonbury Thorn and the thorn thicket on Goonhilly down.

Return of the swifts

If hawthorn flowering four weeks earlier isn’t enough of a sign of climate change, then sightings of the first swifts seen flying across the south east and Gloucestershire in April certainly are.

Swifts usually return from migration around 10 May when temperatures are slightly milder.

Dr Lewthwaite gives an insight into why these events are so early:

“The timing of the seasons is changing in length and complexity, with the mild winter and warm spring contributing to warmer than average temperatures.

It is an example of how climate change is affecting our wildlife and seasons.”

It has been confirmed by experts at the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity that the sightings of hawthorn flowering are accurate and have been verified.

If you would like to get involved in recording your sightings of spring register with nature's calendar.