Nature gets set to spring into life

AT THIS time of year, it's too easy to assume that everything is still asleep.

- AMY SHAKESHAFT

Whilst it seems that everything is 'shhh... oh so quiet, in fact, there is a lot of budding under the surface.

One of the many joys of January is seeing the Earth wake up. Across Greater Manchester, bulbs are bursting, pushing their green fingers up through the cold ground and unfurling into an emerging spring.

Slumbering snowdrops are stirring, their fresh green shoots beckoning the arrival of warmer, brighter days. As one of the first flowers to appear in January, they have long been regarded as a sign of hope for better times ahead.

Snowdrops are not native to the UK, but the exact origin of their introduction to our Fair Isles is unclear because they have been known by many different names throughout the centuries. It's hard to imagine the British countryside without them.

Crocuses are already flowering too, their little lanterns of yellow, white, and purple lighting up a carpet of colour across Manchester. True 'croci' are not native to the UK either, but it's easy to see why we've adopted them so fondly.