With all the horrendousness happening in the World at the moment it feels even more of a relief to know the first month of Spring has finally arrived.
As usual in this series of blog posts I've searched for things that make March a brilliant month and split what I found into 3 sections.
The first section is “things to love about March”, second is "Important dates in March" and then third is "Things to do or take part in during March".
Things to Love About March
- It is the first month of Spring - the 1st of March marks the start of Meterological Spring and the 20th marks the start of Astronomical Spring.
- Pancake Day - definitely a favourite in our household!
- Animals like hedgehogs start to wake up from their Winter hibernation.
- Spring flowers start to bloom with an abundance of daffodils, primroses, crocus, lesser celandine and many others.
- You start to hear the beautiful Spring song of the Dunnock in your garden.
- You might start to see the first butterflies.
- As it has been a fairly mild winter you might be able to see some early frogspawn.
Important Dates in March
- 1st March - Start of Meteorological Spring
- 1st March - St David's Day
- 1st March - Pancake Day
- 5th March - St Piran's Day
- 8th March - International Women's Day
- 17th March - St Patrick's Day
- 20th March - Start of Astronomical Spring and the Spring equinox
- 27th March - The clocks go forward an hour
- 27th March - Mother's Day
Things to do or take part in during March
- Celebrate the Spring equinox on the 20th - go for a walk in your local nature reserve, park or somewhere wild and enjoy all the signs of Spring you see.
- Look for the planet Venus in the pre dawn sky - you can find it by looking East.
- Celebrate St David's Day (Wales), St Piran's Day (Cornwall) and St Patrick's Day (Ireland).
- March is the traditional month to see boxing hares in fields across the UK. However consider yourself very lucky if you do see a hare as their numbers have decreased by up to 80% in the last 100 years, mostly due to habitat loss and illegal hare coursing. You are most likely to see them at dawn or dusk in wide open fields.
- Listen out for the birdsong of the Chiffchaff which is one of our first migrant birds to arrive in Spring. Their call sounds like they are saying their name which makes it easy to remember!
- Visit an outdoor market - Many outdoor markets such as craft/artisan markets or local food markets start up properly again in March so it is a brilliant time to see what's going on in your local area. Pedddle is a brilliant resource for finding wonderful markets in your local area. You can now also make an account and save your favourite markets and stallholders to follow where and when they are next.
- Look for the full moon on the 18th of March - There are a few different names for March's full moon including Worm Moon, Lenten Moon, Crow Moon and Sap Moon.
- As well as being Women's History Month, March is also National Craft Month so you could perhaps try a craft you've not tried before. There are loads of craft kits in different forms on Folksy or Etsy that have been made by small UK businesses or makers.
Thank you for reading and I hope it helps you in some way to have a lovely March filled with lots of brilliant memories. I'd also love to hear if you have tried any of the things in this blog post.
Sources and Links to Further Resources
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/03/why-do-hares-box/ - The Woodland Trust - Why do Hares box in March?
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/natures-calendar-home/natures-calendar-march/ - RSPB Nature's Calendar - March
https://pedddle.com/ - Pedddle - Where to find a brilliant UK market to visit.
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/ - A website showing all the unusual international and national days from across the globe (although many are American based)
https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a25723265/full-moon-names-dates/#:~:text=1%20January%27s%20full%20moon%20-%20Wolf%20Moon%20%2817th%29,moon%20-%20Flower%20Moon%20%2816th%29%20%20More%20items - Country Living - Full Moon Dates and Names in 2022.