April is a month synonymous with new beginnings. Spring in and around Gloucestershire is a wonderful thing to experience. Flowers bloom across the hills and birdsong echoes throughout the valleys. Many recognisable species such as daffodils litter the landscape with a variety of birds claiming their territory through music.

I have been to many wild places in and around the east of Gloucestershire as part of the Wild Trainee scheme set up by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. Since starting in winter, it has been a pleasure to see the sights change with the seasons from cold and dormant to warm and alive. I've been lucky to see many beautiful flowers such as bluebells, wood anemones and forget-me-nots.

Early in April I was on Swift’s Hill nature reserve working with the other Trainees on a stone wall surrounded by lush grassland and the grazing belted Galloway cattle. We had to deconstruct the wall and temporarily fix it to prevent cattle escaping into the adjacent field. Not soon after I was clearing leftover brash from Dimmel's Dale in Chalford with two cheeky ponies and lots of wild flowers. At Greystones Farm I was involved with making a new pathway with volunteers and my fellow trainees. This was done to prevent erosion of the grassland and help it recover. Lastly, this month, I've been planting a wealth of trees on Kite’s Hill in a farmland setting with curious cattle checking in on our progress. 

Bluebells are an integral part of the spring season and can be found throughout many ancient woodlands within Gloucestershire as well as in gardens. They provide a burst of colour in the otherwise green ensemble; catching the eye and drawing it to the forest floor. Cuckoo flowers spring up, towering above the competition fighting to be pollinated. These flowers also attract many insects such as butterflies and honeybees with their beautiful lilac petals.

A wealth of pollinators make their presence known in spring as plants bloom into blossom. The brimstone butterfly is a particularly eye-catching species as the males have bright yellow wings. I have had the pleasure of seeing these at Stroud cricket club and Kite’s Hill, offering a welcome distraction from planting trees.

A rather smelly plant makes its presence known in spring by overwhelming the nose with a familiar but powerful scent. This of course is wild garlic; this plant grows in abundance in woodland and by water and can be used in cooking as long as you don’t over-pick and strip whole areas of this native bounty. The garlic cannot just be identified via smell but by tall white flowers that shoot up from the green entanglement below. Wild garlic can be found across most of the nature reserves in and around April.

Daffodils are the epitome of springtime and April; these living rays of light add an engaging charm to country lanes and roadsides. Native daffodils however are struggling throughout the country with a few bastions left especially in northwest Gloucestershire. 

Wildflowers such as forget-me-nots and cowslips are some of the first flowers to push through the embargo of grass littering the landscape. These flowers help insects to thrive and provide much needed pollen for bees. They are common throughout the county, and brighten up any pathway and garden. Crops such as rapeseed also add a bright flair to the countryside and act as pockets of light beaming across the valleys, attracting wildlife from across the landscape.

April is a great time to plant wildflower seeds in your garden or provide food for birds who have migrated over for spring. Just leaving some bird food out or growing a variety of native flowers can help bring numbers of declining species back and provide refuge from gentrified areas. April is a month of new life and colour bursting forth in the sunshine.

Living in Gloucestershire is a privilege in springtime as the bounty of nature blooms and the marriage of nature and civilisation merge perfectly hand in hand. Visiting different wild places all around the county provides a nourishing reward for the senses and helps bring energy back into our lives from the dark recesses of the winter months.