Bright yellow daffodils under Clifford’s Tower.
Welcome to our new Nature Wellbeing Calendar series. Each month, you’ll be treated to 10 easy and enjoyable ways to get your regular dose of nature. How many can you do this month? 🙂
Let nature help you feel better!
Month 3 – March
1. Celebrate the first day of Spring, or do it twice! Once for the meteorological first day of Spring on 1 March, and again for the astronomical first day (the Spring Equinox) on 20/21 March. Enjoy the lighter evenings by an open window, and listen to the blackbird chorus, singing for Spring!
2. Visit York’s iconic Clifford’s Tower, and admire the cheery yellow of daffodils cloaking its banks. Gaze for a while. You’ll feel your mood lift and your heart dance, as did Wordsworth: “I gazed and gazed but little thought/ what wealth to me the show had brought…” Dance with the daffodils on this classic York Walk
3. Bring on the blossom! Blackthorn is one of the first trees to blossom. Look for clouds of small white flowers in hedgerows. Bend closer, although be careful of the small thorns! Breathe in deeply. Do you think the flowers smell like vanilla or almond?
Woman leans forward and smells a cluster of white flowers on a wild cherry tree.
4. Pause and wonder at the beauty of city trees full of Cherry Blossom. From white to deep pink, flowering cherry trees are inspiring sights, and smell amazing too! Join in the Japanese tradition of Hanami by having a drink under one. Or perhaps just drink in their splendour. 🙂 Enjoy a lovely Cherry Blossom poem
5. Try a yellow Spring flower hunt! Shiny gold lesser celandines and bright yellow dandelions are popping up unexpectedly in sunlit grassy areas. Challenge family and friends to a hunt, sketch in your Nature Journal, or share photos in our WhatsApp Nature Group.
6. Who’s a-flutter? Look out for another yellow in March, the Brimstone butterfly. It’s one of the first butterflies of the year. Brimstone is an old word for Sulphur, also yellow. Note your first sighting in your calendar as your very own Brimstone Day! Find out more about March butterflies and moths.
Tree bumblebee covered in yellow pollen hangs from a willow flower.
7. What’s the buzz? Is this your first Bumblebee Day? The big Queen Bumblebees are waking up hungry and heading out for food. You can spot them on Willow tree flowers by the river on a sunny day. Why not also find a bench in the sun? Sit down and close your eyes. And relax, as you feel the warmth on your face.
8. Remember your first Chiffchaff Day too! Listen near wooded areas for another sound of Spring. Chiff – Chaff, Chiff – Chaff, Chiff – Chaff. It’s the quick two-note song of a Chiffchaff, just returned from wintering abroad. Once learnt you will hear their distinctive call often!
9. Is there any nest building near you? Watch out your window for birds carrying twigs, moss and feathers this month. You can help our feathered friends by leaving short bits of wool and twine out. Different birds build different nests.
10. Plan your wildlife garden for the year! You could grow more pollinator-friendly flowers, create a pond, plant some trees or shrubs with berries for the birds, or create a bee home or hedgehog highway. Join the friendly #TeamWilder community from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for brilliant ideas and wildlife gardening toolkits. Go wild for wildlife, and enter their Wildlife Gardening Award this year. 🙂
Wild Yarden with table and chairs surrounded by wildflowers in bloom.
York Bike Belles 