Spring

SPRING

The second week in April has seen sunshine in London and the warmest days since early autumn of 2009. Many flowering trees and plants on the streets of London have suddenly sprung to life and have provided an uplifting sight to the millions who live and work in the metropolis. London is a beautiful sight in spring, with thousands of ornamental cherries lining the streets, in the main of the Japanese varieties, which have been cultivated for their majestic blossoms rather than fruit production, making them ideal for urban streets. 

In London, the first signs of spring have been evident earlier in the year for many seasons now, although 2010 has proved a welcome exception. This year saw London’s coldest winter for thirty years, with the deepest freeze since 1978-1979. Temperatures during December, January and February were often below freezing and only hitting double figures on several dates over those ninety days. Typically, London has a mild climate for its latitude, benefitting from the Gulf Stream, which draws warm moist air up from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the vast urban sprawl heats the atmosphere over the city, generally giving it a couple of degrees higher on average than the surrounding countryside.

This year’s cold winter has kept spring so dormant that not only were daffodils unopened on St David’s Day, but the snowdrops were still in flower seventeen days later on St Patrick’s Day. The Meteorological Office has confirmed that spring of 2010 was delayed by around three weeks, restoring the seasons to the pattern last seen in the 1970’s. A benefit of spring arriving when it should, is that it avoids nature being thrown into confusion, with blossom appearing sometimes as early as January, often only for the quick return of a cold snap rendering spring petals limp and lifeless from frost. This year, with blossom erupting in the mild April air, the cherries are resultantly all filled with the fluffiest and most rewarding pink or white flowers.

A walk through London in the height of spring is most cheering, whether in the city centre or in the suburbs. The pedestrian is never far from open spaces, as London is one of the greenest cities of its size in the world. The parks act as a lung running through the capital and in springtime their beauty is unsurpassed.  In particular, the gardeners of the Royal Parks are always careful to provide ample of spring colour. For instance, a bus ride heading north up Park Lane in spring will provide breathtaking views of undulating fields of crocuses inside the adjacent Hyde Park.  Elsewhere, thousands of spring bulbs are planted on Primrose Hill, a short distance to the north of Regent’s Park which always has avenues of trees alight with spring colour.

The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew have five million different flowering bulbs during springtime. Visitors who only head to Kew Gardens once a year often choose this season and are duly rewarded with the sight of two million crocuses carpeting the site. The harsh winter means that even late flowering spring plants will be set back, with the Kew bluebells not expected until mid-May. Many tiny birds, such as the goldcrest and the wren, are likely to have perished over winter. For hibernating creatures, the late spring could increase their chances of survival, as the cold deterred them from stepping out too early. It is also good news for some migrating birds, which in recent years have arrived too late to feed on caterpillars, that have hatched too early and pupated before their arrival.

The spring air is filled with song of blackbird, great tits, robins, song thrushes, chaffinches and the sound of bees. Honeybees are already buzzing around magnolias, lilacs and the yellow spring flowers of the forsythia. London’s bees are enjoying better health than many of their rural cousins. The hundreds of thousands of urban gardens provide a vast wealth of plant varieties for foraging.  Importantly, London bees benefit from an absence of polluted farmland, as their catchment areas do not extend to the green belt. The ever more frequent ‘colony collapse disorder’ is considered by most beekeepers to be caused by farmers’ pesticides and herbicides and their prolific overuse. Bees have for some reason been unable to find their way back from the four compass points leaving hives almost empty. Urban bees have mostly avoided the poisons and diseases that have been destroying hives in the countryside.

Over the course of the second weekend in April, it was observed that many urban trees with bare branches on the preceding Friday were showing the first leaf points by Monday, particularly horse chestnuts, sycamore and hornbeam. Amongst the last common trees to break into leaf in London are the ash and the oak. The saying, ‘oak before ash, we are in a for a splash - ash before oak, we are in for a soak’ as a portent to indicate a wet or dry summer doesn’t work particularly well in the capital. The city’s ashes come into leaf almost invariably after oaks, even when the city has gone on to experience summers with very high rainfall. So whether the summer of 2010 be wet or dry, take time to enjoy the ever too brief delights of springtime, as its marvels will be evident to all from the humble inner city window box, through to London’s wooded parkland.

Where to view Spring and video clips of London

London in motion has some of the best London Stock Footage and London Library Footage with moving clips of many of the above mentioned places to see, are available to browse through by simply visiting the ‘Spring’ category of this website.  New additions of London video clips are being frequently uploaded and further categories will be appearing over the coming months.