The month starts off with April Fool’s Day, a tradition dating back to 1582 and kept alive by the media 441 years later. It all began when France switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. In the Julian calendar the New Year began on 1 April and people who were slow to adjust became known as “April Fools.”
In April, mud around the banks is collected by returning swallows for nest building
Out in nature this month, everything is unpredictable; for gardeners, April is known for being a fickle month, which means don’t be too optimistic about your tomatoes because the easterly winds can make it feel like February again. But spring is surging and bumblebees, bluebells and random butterflies will make an appearance on some days. Ponds, especially, will be active with life. Mud around the banks is collected by returning swallows to build their nests, and if you dip a bucket into the water, all sorts of creatures can be seen: water boatmen, water beetles, tadpoles, pond snails and dragonfly larvae. This is the time to put in your own pond plants and renew your kitchen herb garden.
Ladybirds will start to make an appearance, so avoid removing aphids from plants as these are an important food source for them. If you can, leave part of the garden wild because moth caterpillars love weeds – they are at the lower rung of the food chain and you’ll be providing food for hundreds of baby birds if you keep your trimmers silent. Birds nesting now are the blue and great tits, blackbirds, sparrows, robins – all will be sitting patiently on their eggs. Give yourself a treat and meander through park or countryside, listening to all the birds and breathing in the fragrances. Let the sun revive your wintry bones.
Positive Ecological Restoration Stories
Hedgehog hope
A Danish volunteer project discovered that one of their hogs was sixteen years old, the oldest European hedgehog ever found. “I vividly remember the day when I counted sixteen growth rings in the microscope. I was completely overwhelmed and even shed a tear of joy,” said Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen, from the University of Oxford research project. “Because if a hedgehog can reach the age of sixteen, there is still hope.” Hedgehogs are on the vulnerable species list. Their population in the UK has fallen by a third since the year 2000. “Hedgehogs gradually gain more experience as they grow older, if they manage to survive to reach the age of two years or more, they would have likely learned to avoid dangers such as cars and predators. That is a rather groundbreaking discovery, and very positive news from a conservation perspective,” said Rasmussen.
Solar saviour
Wales will become the first nation in Europe to install solar technology for housing blocks. A solar system connecting all apartments to the same rooftop panels will save residents 50 per cent off their electricity bills and reduce their carbon footprint. Allume Energy said its SolShare model is a world first that captures solar energy from the same rooftop and is shared by multiple homes in the same building. “At a time when costs are rising, improving the energy efficiency of homes will not only help us to deal with the climate emergency but also help families through the cost-of-living crisis,” said Welsh Minister for Climate Change, Julie James.
Skyglow solution
The City of London has drafted a rule for skyscrapers to dim their lights at nighttime, in an initiative to “cut light pollution and save energy”. Business districts and busy transport hubs in London and other built-up areas are lit up unnecessarily after dark, blocking out the night sky with artificial light. This “skyglow” also has a detrimental effect on nature: 60 per cent of wildlife in the UK needs natural darkness for migration, reproduction, and pollination rhythms. France has already led the way by initiating a scheme requiring all shops to turn off their lights between one and six in the morning.
Clean energy by 2025
Big news from the International Energy Agency’s Electricity Market Report 2023 is that 90 per cent of new energy demand from 2025 will be covered by clean energy sources – wind and solar, along with nuclear energy. Renewables will be the world’s largest electricity source. “The world’s growing demand for electricity is set to accelerate, adding more than double Japan’s current electricity consumption over the next three years,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
“The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions. Governments now need to enable low-emissions sources to grow even faster and drive down emissions so that the world can ensure secure electricity supplies while reaching climate goals,” Birol said.
Sky Events
The New Shoots Moon comes on 6 April – the full moon of the first spring flowers. The best time to view the planet Mercury is 11 April, when it will be at its highest point towards the western sky just after sunset. There’s a Hybrid Solar Eclipse on 20 April, which occurs when the Moon is close to the Earth and blocks out the Sun. A partial eclipse can be seen in Indonesia and Australia. The Lyrids Meteor Shower comes on 22 and 23 April, producing about twenty meteors per hour at its peak. Best viewing will be after midnight. Look towards the constellation Lyra.
Tides in April
Spring: 8th-9th and 21st-22nd
Neap: 14th-15th and 28th-29th
Andreas Kornevall is a Swedish storyteller, author and ecologist. He is the Director of Operations for the Earth Restoration Service Charity based in the UK
