I’m very fortunate in my job that I get to be outside quite a bit. The downside is that I am often travelling quite long distances to be in some picturesque canalside location. It dies mean that I get to see the seasons change and, however fleetingly, the wildlife that heralds the arrival of one season or another.

It’s been wonderful having a week in one place (a beautiful rural place) to watch the march of spring. The obvious signs are everywhere. Daffodils in every shade of yellow sway in the breeze (or gales has been the case earlier this week), bringing their golden smile to front gardens, hedgerows and municipal roundabouts alike. Current bushes drip with their blooms of pink and white. These miniature chandelier blossoms make these bushes look as though there has been an explosion of Pat Butchers earrings.

Elsewhere, if you look hard enough, the signs of creatures marking the arrival of spring are all around. Birds are busy performing their courtship rituals, singing their tiny hearts out to attract a mate and gathering material to build their nests. Bees are beginning to emerge from their dormant period and can be seen buzzing around the spring blooms. Hedgerows are bursting into life with patches of butter yellow primroses and Hawthorne bushes fizzing into life with their neon green leaves.

On our walk yesterday we were treated to a wonderful spring sight. As we headed towards Alnwick, along the river Aln we walked across a field and there in front of us were two hates performing their boxing ritual. We weren’t quick enough to take a picture but the image will certainly stay in my mind. The hares were jumping back and forth, their long ears and paws backlit by the spring sunshine. Fortunately Zoly was oblivious to their presence, too busy enjoying his own spring scent fest. The hares meanwhile were a bit more savvy than Z and were soon aware of this lumbering predictor. They were not waiting around to get better acquainted – they were soon sprinting off to continue their ritual elsewhere.