Visiting the RSPB public hide at Udale Bay, near Cromarty on the Black Isle, is always good for birds at this time of the year. However it is always a good opportunity to look and see whether the creamy butterbur is showing. This is one of the first signs of spring in the Highlands and it grows, conveniently, on the side of the road to Newhallpoint at Udale Bay where it flourishes on the woodland floor. Normally it is the end of February when, whatever the weather is, the first creamy buds thrust up through the soil and are a very welcome sign of spring being just round the corner. This year has been different as, although there is undoubtedly some real winter weather to come, so far it has been relatively mild. The creamy butterbur seemed to reflect this as on the sides of the road it was well up last week and many of them were not only several inches high but also actually in flower. In all the many years checking this site this is the first time I have seen them flowering this early. Growing with the creamy butterbur will be snowdrops but these still have to show as a search under the trees did not reveal any coming up. Elsewhere violets and primrose will grow early in more protected sites especially around the coast or even in sheltered inland sites such as the sides of Loch Ness.
Birdwise there seems to have been very little movement as far as singing and displaying are concerned despite the mild weather as if the birds know what weather there is to come. There have been one or two exceptions such as a pair of starlings that were singing away on two early mornings last week. They were sat in a tall and old sycamore not far from the doocot in which a few pairs nest every year. The song of the starling is very strange, almost unique in the bird world, as they do not seem to have a clear pattern. There are lots of wheezy warbling and musical whistles but what is surprising is that they readily mimic other birds and even other sounds. In one example it took me some time to realise it was a starling singing and not the ring of the telephone. Another amazing aspect is that they can remember calls of other birds. For example in our garden they will imitate the call of a curlew quite often. Yet they have not heard a curlew calling in the strath since early last summer when a few pairs bred around the house. So far there has been little evidence of birds breaking up into pairs as blue, coal and great tits have been coming to garden feeders as usual although the numbers seem to be down on last year. I did hear a wood pigeon start its cooing display notes last week and they are now calling almost every day. There are still many weeks of winter to go but the early signs are there and we can but anticipate which will be the first migrant birds to come back from Africa. Many people think the first will be the sand martin, swallow or wheatear but most years the very first is the osprey.