We are very much in the bleak midwinter at the moment. It's near impossible to make plans for the future. But what a lot of people around the world noticed during the first lockdown is that nature didn't stop. All the other species continued life as normal - some even took advantage of the reduced human activity. Spring - or baby animal season - is my favourite time of year.
I know we're not there yet, but here's some things to look out for around Croydon as spring arrives:
Blossom and spring flowers
Some trees actually produce blossom in the winter. There's a winter flowering cherry tree on Barclay Road outside Croydon Crown Courts which was flowering in December 2019 and January 2020.
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| 2nd January 2020, Croydon Crown Court |
Snowdrops tend to start flowering during winter, but they're a sign that spring is on its way.
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| Coombe Wood, February 2020 |
Crocuses are another early spring flower which are abundant in Croydon parks, gardens and other green spaces. In 2020, I first saw some on 15th January.
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| Crocuses, Park Hill, 31st Jan 2020 |
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| Cherry blossom, Park Hill, April 2019 |
One of the best places in the area to observe spring coming is Park Hill Park, a short walk from the town centre and East Croydon station. From the Barclay Road entrance, the footpath is lined on both sides with cherry trees, which produce beautiful blossom around April. There are more trees at the top of the park which produce a carpet of blossom.
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| Park Hill Park spring blossom |
Daffodils are one of the staple spring flowers and there's no shortage in the Croydon area. They typically flower around March and April but some bloom as early as January. One of the more surprising places to see a large number of daffodils is on Chepstow Road, a dual carriageway which leads from the roundabout with Park Hill Road to the tram junction on Addiscombe Road.
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| Daffodils, Chepstow Road, 2nd March 2020 |
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| 16th March 2020, Coombe Wood |
Magnolia trees are particularly beautiful and tend to flower quite early. There are magnolia trees in a number of Croydon parks, including Park Hill, Waddon Ponds, Coombe Wood and Heathfield.
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| Magnolia tree, Park Hill, 11th March 2020 |
Baby birds
Birds that breed in and around water tend to be easier to see than birds that nest in trees. However, it's worth keeping an eye on nest boxes. Back in May 2020 I noticed some blue tits were using a nest box in Park Hill Park. Make sure to give them space so they can still get to their chicks if you do spot a nest - it's illegal to disturb any nesting bird in the UK.
In previous years I've seen evidence of kestrels breeding at South Norwood Country Park and Lloyd Park.
Waddon Ponds and South Norwood Lake are two of the best places in Croydon to get a close view of ducklings, goslings, cygnets, grebes, coots and moorhens. Look out for nesting great crested grebes at South Norwood Lake and little grebes at Waddon Ponds.
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| Great crested grebe & chick, South Norwood Lake, 29th June 2020 |
Some baby birds look quite strange, like cootlings. When they're young, they look very similar to baby moorhens as well. I like watching young coots because they are doted on by both parents and still squeak to be fed when they're the same size as their parents.
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| Cootling at Waddon Ponds, 9th June 2020 |
Mallards are raised by a single mother, who has a large brood and tries to raise as many of them as possible. Ducklings feed themselves independently but rely on their mother for warmth, protection and waterproofing. This is a somewhat different strategy to geese, coots and swans, where both parents take active roles in parenting. Swans are notoriously protective of their young, although the male swan (cob) at Waddon Ponds only seems to show aggression to geese.
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| Mallard ducklings, Waddon Ponds, 4th May 2020 |
In recent years, the first water birds I've observed breeding are Egyptian geese. They seem to have a very long breeding season. I've observed Egyptian goslings in some parks in February, notably at the Crystal Palace Bowl pond, in Beddington Park, and further afield in Regents Park. I spotted recently hatched Egyptian geese at South Norwood Lake in late October and three were still there when I visited in mid December.
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| Egyptian goslings sheltering under their mother, South Norwood Lake, 21st Oct 2020 |
Frogspawn, toadspawn and tadpoles
In the above photo, there's a lot of frogspawn, but there's also some toadspawn visible, the dark lines to the left of the pair of frogs. This photo was taken at the edge of the Bramley Bank pond using a telephoto lens.
Any small, still pond or part of a pond is good for frogspawn and tadpoles. The ponds at Heathfield and Littleheath Woods tend to be teeming with tadpoles in the spring. There can also be some around the edges of Waddon Ponds and the Wandle Park pond. Look out for newts, which predate tadpoles, in the pond by the wooden bridge at Heathfield and the Lloyd Park pond.
New leaves growing on trees are a beautiful sight. It seems like one day the trees are bare and the next, the woods are green again.
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| 22nd March 2020, Croham Hurst |
Also look out for bluebells in woodlands.
This list isn't complete but I thought it might cheer people up a bit to get a preview of spring.
Top photo: Crocuses in the Queens Gardens, March 2018
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