Nature watch: April

Tawny owls in the woods, dew on the grass and the thin grey light of dawn in the east. When the sun is still six degrees below the horizon, a blackbird bursts into song and the sound carries far in the windless air. Now a second blackbird starts up, soon to be accompanied by a third. Above and below their rich contraltos, other birds join in: robins, chaffinches and wood pigeons. Wrens add their shrill voices, and a song thrush practises its melodious phrases: Did-he-do-it, Did-he-do-it? Before the sun has appeared, the valley is awash with birdsong. What a magical time of year this is, and not just for the dawn chorus. By the end of the month my favourite butterfly – the orange tip – is fluttering over damp meadows where cuckoo flowers grow.

The adder, our only venomous snake in the British Isles, loves nothing better than to bask in the sun. It needs warmth to stir its sluggish metabolism. Only then can it move and hunt and breed. Only then can it be an adder. That is why April is the most active time of the year for adders, when they emerge from hibernation to shed their winter skins and pair off. The male adder is a considerate lover, caressing his partner with his tongue. At first she lies still, but in a while her tail begins to twitch like a beckoning finger, indicating surrender.