When has spring sprung in your mind?

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for spring now. As much as I love winter – especially when it snows – there comes a point when enough is enough.

Overall, winter this year has been close to average when it comes to temperature and rainfall, according to provisional statistics from the Met Office.

However it has had its moments of storminess and wintriness, providing occasions when there has been some disruption.

One thing that has surprised me is that according to the Met Office, this winter is on course to be one of the sunniest on record.

As February draws to a close, I’ve already had lots of people asking me if there are any signs of spring – a season with which its perceived arrival seems to vary greatly.

This led me to the question: when has spring sprung in your mind?

Spring Equinox

The occurrence of the spring equinox, which takes place on Friday 20 March at 10.45pm this year, marks the point at which the days start to become longer than the nights in the northern hemisphere.

This is important for our seasons, as it is the point at which, increasingly, the number of hours of the day when the sun’s energy enters the northern hemisphere are greater than the number of hours when energy is escaping.

As the days become longer, this gradually warms up the northern hemisphere, taking us towards the warmth of summer.

Good weather

The weather is always on our minds in this country. We love to talk about it, we love to moan about it, and it inevitably affects our mood and perception of the world around us.

Although the weather can vary hugely in spring, we can be graced with high pressure, light winds and sunshine.

For me, the weather shouts spring when it’s sunny with light winds and temperatures are around 13-16C.

Blossoming nature

As the chill of winter starts to relax its grip and the sun climbs a little higher in the sky each day, the rays of sunshine give a nudge to nature.

Snowdrops and primroses are often among the first spring flowers to pop up, brightening up the bare trees that fill our parks and woodlands.

Daffodils are another flower that give us a sense that spring has arrived, as they stand tall and proud on the ground.

Animal behaviour

As a hint of spring starts to arrive in the air, nature quite often begins to get itself into a frenzy – especially the birds.

Blackbirds and rooks can often be seen eagerly flying around, collecting twigs, grass and moss to build nests ready of laying their eggs in early March.

Not only are birds busily building nests for their young, they also start to sing, giving the familiar seasonal bird song first thing in the morning.

Any signs of spring-like weather?

The next five days will deliver more of what we’ve had during the past week, with deep areas of low pressure passing to the north of the UK.

This means that mild, wet days will be punctuated by cold, bright days, as each weather system sweeps through.

There are signs that high pressure will build over or close to the UK later next week, but there is a lot of uncertainty about its orientation – something crucial to which direction the wind will come from and whether it’ll be cold or mild.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on the first signs of any spring warmth with updates on Twitter – @liamdutton

In the meantime, you can leave your thoughts about when spring has sprung in your mind in the comments below.