March
March
The vernal (spring) equinox starts on the 20th. The days
and night are of equal length.
Did you know that in March:
Periods of warm weather break up the cold so
many animals start to come out of hibernation.
Also, spring flowers begin to appear and trees
start to grow new leaves. On one of the warmer
days a queen bumblebee will emerge from her
winter hibernation and will feed on the nectar of
the plants.
What to look for in March.
How many of these things will you see?
primroses
birds gathering nesting materials
flying bumblebees
frogspawn
flowering gorse
Things to do:
Looking at pine cones
Collect two pine cones from the forest floor. Place one in a bowl of water
for 10 minutes and keep the other one dry.
Compare the two cones. What are the differences?
The reason that the wet one closes the scales is to keep the seeds dry so they
can float away on the wind to a place where they can grow.
Take the wet one out of the water and watch what happens when it dries.