Spring

For many people, spring is the most beautiful time of year. Temperatures rise, days grow longer, and nature delights us with beautiful colours and scents. Spring is especially important for animals and plants: they have their young.But what exactly is “spring”? It has, of course, something to do with the sun. Everyone knows that the Earth orbits the sun. It takes 365 days and almost 6 hours to do so. The Earth also rotates once on its axis every day. This rotation takes place around a line running from the North Pole to the South Pole. We call it the Earth’s axis. This axis is tilted towards the sun.

This means that as the Earth travels around the Sun, first the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, and then the southern hemisphere is. This tilt of the Earth’s axis is what gives us the seasons.

In Europe, we live in the Northern Hemisphere. The periods when this part of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun are called spring and summer; the other two are autumn and winter. The opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere. People who live near the Earth’s equator do not experience these seasons. It is warmer there all year round than it is here, and there is little difference in the length of the days and nights. Nature can adapt to all circumstances. Here, animals, plants and, of course, people have learned to live with the seasons.

There are several answers to this question. We distinguish between astronomical, meteorological, and phenological spring. This sounds more complicated than it is. Astronomers are scientists who study the sun, planets, and outer space. For them, spring begins on the day the sun crosses Earth’s equator heading north. On that day, day and night are the same length. Here, astronomical spring begins on March 20 each year for the next few years. For astronomers, spring ends when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky. This happens regularly on June 21. Summer begins after that. Meteorologists study weather and climate. For them, spring always begins on March 1 and ends on May 31. It’s a simple definition that works for everyone. Phenologists observe how plants develop and how animals behave. For them, early spring begins, for example, when the hazel blooms. This is followed by mid-spring, when the forsythia blooms. They call it full spring when blossoms appear on apple trees, lilacs, and raspberries. For phenologists, then, the start of spring depends on a region’s location, but also on what is actually happening in nature. It begins as early as the end of February in southern Portugal, while in Finland spring doesn’t arrive until May. But even people who aren’t scientists can recognize—and enjoy—spring by making a few simple observations.

If you wake up early in spring, you can hear a beautiful concert—and it’s free. All you have to do is listen quietly to the birdsong.

They don't all sing at the same time. The black redstart, for example, can be heard about an hour before sunrise. The starling joins the chorus only after sunrise, while the others start sometime in between. This sequence is sometimes called a "bird clock". It is almost always the male birds that start this springtime concert. There are two reasons for this: they sing because they are looking for a mate. So birdsong is really a love song.

Birdsong also serves to mark out a territory. Birds sing in the morning and evening. Blackbirds, robins, chaffinches and song thrushes sing again then. The nightingale’s melodies are particularly impressive, but can only be heard after dark.

Many animals that live here have young in spring. When a male bird has found a mate, they both start building a nest. The female lays eggs, and soon the chicks hatch. Baby hares and roe deer are born, too, and tadpoles hatch from frogspawn. There is a simple reason for this: young animals soon have to find food for themselves, and spring offers the greatest abundance. It also gets warmer, giving the young animals plenty of time to prepare for the next cold winter.

You can observe this very well in sheep. They sometimes have their lambs as early as February, but usually in March. At first, the young lambs feed on their mothers’ milk. Once they have grown a little, they find plenty of lush grass and quickly learn to fend for themselves.

Since Easter is celebrated at the end of March or the beginning of April, lambs are sometimes called Easter lambs. Easter is also associated with various egg-related customs. Eggs are hidden, tapped together or rolled down hills. Eggs have long been regarded as symbols of new life. In some areas, Easter bonfires are lit. This custom dates back several hundred years. They were probably intended to drive away winter and evil spirits.

In spring, we can enjoy the beautiful colors and scents of plants. But the plants don’t necessarily do this to make us happy. Their flowers are part of their natural life cycle. They bloom so profusely to attract insects and other animals. They even offer them a sweet food source called nectar. In return, the insects help the plants reproduce. For example, when a bee visits an apple blossom, it encounters several yellowish stalks in the middle of the flower.

These are called stamens. Lots of tiny pollen grains form on the stamens. The pistil grows in the centre of the flower. Each time a bee visits, it carries pollen to other flowers. Some of it lands on the pistils of those flowers. This process is called pollination. An apple can only develop after pollination. Nature has made sure that apple trees produce as many apples as possible, so that new trees can grow from their seeds. But it is only through the trick of flowers and nectar that nature has ensured bees do their important work.

Other plants do not rely on bees or other insects. Instead, they let the wind carry their pollen. Black alder trees, for example, grow long catkins in March or April, which produce pollen. Small cones sprout nearby. The wind carries the pollen to the cones. Fruits develop inside them and ripen in autumn.

Most people look forward to spring. The dark season is over, it gets warmer, and we can spend much more time outdoors again and enjoy nature. The longer days are good for our spirits. Spring has inspired many poets to express their feelings. But some people also have problems with spring, for example because they suffer from “spring fatigue”. As the weather gets warmer, our blood vessels widen too. This sometimes leads to lower blood pressure and increased tiredness. Others suffer when flowers, grasses and trees release their tiny pollen grains. Most people are not affected, but some have an allergic reaction. Their eyes itch, they have to sneeze constantly, or their noses get blocked. They have “hay fever”. These symptoms are often caused by pollen from birch, alder, cereals or grasses. And yet no other season displays nature in such splendour and beauty as spring.