If you go down to the woods today

A recent Met Office report has revealed that this spring has been one of the warmest and driest in around a decade. This means that many of spring's key nature events have happened earlier than in previous years.

This year came very close to being the earliest on record for horse chestnut flowering with the mean recorded flowering date expected to be April 19th when spring recording finishes. The earliest ever recorded flowering date was April 18th in 1945.

Ash trees seem to have finally caught up with oak and are now in leaf, while oak, rowan and silver birch are flowering. Keep an eye out for early blackberries and tell us if you spot any.

Brimstone butterfly. Image © Fran Hitchinson / Woodland Trust Picture Library

2011 is likely to be a record-breaking year for butterflies with the earliest recorded sightings of orange-tip butterflies, and one of the earliest for brimstone. Holly blue and speckled wood butterflies have also been spotted earlier than in the previous ten springs. We won't know whether this is because they are more abundant, or because people are out watching and recording them more until the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme results are out. We are particularly interested in the results of this survey following Richard Fox's report, Why the UK's butterflies are in trouble. You can help us find out how climate change is affecting butterflies by recording your sightings on nature's calendar.

Birds are currently filling the air , with swifts and swallows now back for the summer and many young birds starting to fledge. Keep a look out for young robins, blue, great and long-tailed tits, great spotted woodpeckers and dunnocks taking to the air for the first time.

Badger. Image © Richard Becker / Woodland Trust Picture Library

Here at the Woodland Trust, we are also getting reports of many other species which we don't record as part of our nature's calendar survey. Ground ivy is fading while buttercups and clover are now flowering, giving the woods a carpet of colour. Signs of badger activity have been spotted, although we've yet to hear of any of these notoriously elusive animals being seen. Have you spotted any? We are still collecting records for this year's springwatch survey. Visit your local woods and tell us what you have spotted on nature's calendar.

Remember too, the Woodland Trust is currently giving away free community tree packs to help you create your own space for wildlife watching and new homes for the many species who call woods home.