To view a different period, click on the appropriate link in the table below.

Look out for in:
Jan/Feb	March	April	May	Jun/Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec

Interesting Features to be seen in April

At the beginning of the month the wood anemones – also known as wind flowers - make a wonderful show. They occur mostly in 'Yarwell Quarter' (the south eastern part of the forest) where they create a magnificent carpet of white through the wood. Click on the image on the right to see a larger image of the forest at this time - this photograph was taken on April 2nd 2003. Bluebells are starting to show some blue in the first week of April, and will be fully out by the end of the month. We plan to add a picture showing the bluebells later in the month. And here it is: Patches of wild garlic and dog’s mercury complete the green carpet of the woodland floor, with violets showing here and there. All these plants exploit the early light available before the leaves open on the trees and shrubs. The shrub layer itself begins to become green during April, made up largely of elder, hawthorn, blackthorn, spindle, hazel and dogwood. The shrub layer has been coppiced at points along the main bridleway. These ‘scallops’ allow more light onto the ground, encouraging flowering plants and insects. This subject is described further on the Old Sulehay Forest page under 'Management Plans'. Many of the coppice stools appear to have been damaged by grazing deer and this is the focus of current monitoring. If the grazing is too intense it may be necessary to protect the stools until they recover. Sand martins and chiffchaffs have already arrived by the start of April (as listed in the March section of this 'look out for' webpage). They will soon be joined by a host of summer migrants, cashing in on insect food as the forest bursts into leaf. Summer migrants in the forest and quarry include: willow warblers (down scale song ), blackcap (considered one of the most attractive bird songs ), garden warbler (similar songs to blackcap but distinguishable with practice), whitethroat (scratchy song ), lesser whitethroat (rattling song ), grasshopper warbler (guess this song !), turtle dove (purring sound - sorry, we have not got a link to this one), and cuckoo (you probably know this song ). Early butterflies to watch out for are speckled wood, and holly blue. Also, look out for: Green Tiger Beetles These can be seen skuttling along the bare ground in the quarry. Hares can be seen in the fields beside the Sulehay Road occasionally. Badgers and foxes are active and soon you could be lucky enough to see their young above ground. Finally, please remember to respect all wildlife and do not pick any flowers. Keep your dog on a lead as there will now be ground nesting birds in the forest, and we'd like to encourage them to stay.