The Magic Of Spring | Animal Stories

When the winter world disappears and the sun's rays begin to gather strength, it's the start of a season that is a law unto itself. Spring, light and warmth summon fast growth. It's a time that calls for maximum performance all round, but provides plentiful sustenance in return. There's a lot to do, ensuring future generations and getting the world to bloom again. Colours, scents and birdsong cast a spell over Europe's spring worlds. Early spring, at first it's barely noticeable. The beginning of March, the nights are still frosty and the trees bear. The last of the winter chill is still in the air, but the early returning flocks of birds signal a new start. In the fields and meadows still bare from winter, the pleasurable anticipation is almost tangible. After the long dark winter season, without much nourishment and little physical activity, the animals are preparing for a completely different world. A world full of light, warmth and joyful movement. The months ahead will be tough. Gathering energy, growing and ensuring the propagation of species, those are the great challenges of spring. Fields, meadows and forests will soon offer plentiful supplies of food. This will attract migrating birds back from their wintering grounds. For people too, this is the start of a time of bustling activity. In March, they must prepare the fields for sowing. Storks and starlings are the first to return to central Europe from their sojourn to the south. It's hotter and drier in their wintering grounds and there's much more competition for food resources. Here they're lured by plentiful food and nesting sites. For most of them, it's definitely worth the long journey. They generally fly these long stretches in large flocks. During the breeding season, they spread out across the countryside, each founding its own family. Hares are early starters. By the time March arrives, the battle to create the next generation is already well underway. In general, hares live alone. It's only during the mating season that rival bucks and willing does seek each other's company. When a violent slugfest breaks loose, it's generally all in the name of winning the favor of a female. After all, the winner has the best chance of becoming a father. Almost everywhere, the foremost pastime now is finding a mate. The spotted woodpecker's courtship display consists of drumming. Hollow tree trunks make a wonderful resonating body. The robin, on the other hand, prefers a more musical song. The increase in light and warmth makes the sap begin to rise in all the plants. The hazelnut tree blossoms very early, even before most insects start buzzing around. The male blossoms show off their massive amounts of pollen, while the female blossoms develop quite differently. They don't have to rely on bees and other insects for pollination. It's the wind that takes on the task of transferring the Just a gentle breeze is enough to release clouds of pollen and carry it to the female blossoms, following which the development of the next hazelnut harvest is well on the way. Among the first flowering plants to appear in March are the pasque flower and the crocus. They've got enough energy in their roots and bulbs stored up from the previous year, and now they're among the frontrunners. Almost overnight, huge carpets of them appear. As soon as it's warm enough, honeybees emerge and begin swarming about the fields. Coordination is still a bit tricky, but they soon get the hang of it. The bee fly has a long proboscis that it uses to probe for nectar effortlessly in even the deepest calyx, like in the cowslip. Sunlight and warmth now begin to coax out flowers everywhere. The tree's branches are still bare enough for the sunshine to reach the forest floor almost unhindered. Countless spring snowflakes and wood anemones thrive on its life-giving rays. Their early blooms are very important for the bees, because this is when they most need protein-rich pollen to feed their new brood. To ensure the survival of their bee colony, they toil away tirelessly, from dawn till dusk. Streams and rivers are still icy cold. Wherever the water runs clean and clear is where the water ousel or dipper makes its home. Its well-oiled plumage protects it against the cold and wet, a very helpful attribute when searching for food underwater. Like the dipper, trout are only happy in natural, unadulterated streams. In quieter areas, the occasional muskrat can be sighted. Originally from America, it only settled in Germany during the last century. It's clearly identifiable by its bare, laterally flattened tail. Many birds, such as the wren and the siskin, come down to the riverbank to drink. Streams are the lifelines of the forest, and it's here that the dipper sets up its nursery. The parent birds are collecting padding for their nest. Their mating season was back in winter. Now they're starting their first brood. A pair of dippers takes some two weeks to construct their nest. And to finish it off, a nice leaf. Thoroughly cleaned, it serves as the final touch to the nest, as well as a soft bed for the eggs. But however well the nest cavity is built, it doesn't always last long enough to raise the brood. A muskrat has chosen a spot nearby as a hiding place. It seldom leaves its hideaway during the day. Unlike the dipper, which hunts for insect larvae along the riverbank. Fresh watercress seems to be irresistible. Attractive enough to lure the muskrat to nibble on it in broad daylight for a change. There's still no greenery in the forest. That's not a problem for the squirrel. It's still living off its autumn supplies. Squirrels build their nests high up in the trees, either using twigs and moss, or inside a hollow in a tree trunk. The mating season for squirrels begins in January. By March at the latest, most females are pregnant and preparing for the imminent birth of their young. They need plenty of rest. Even though their big bellies make it difficult to find a comfortable position, in the world of flora, the forest doesn't seem particularly spring-like yet. In the world of fauna, however, plenty has been happening. Almost all the doe hares are pregnant. Most of the trees will remain leafless until at least the end of March. And this is exactly what causes the growth spurt on the ground below. Beach seedlings grow fast to ensure their place in the sun. Hundreds of little saplings strive upwards before the leaves of their parent tree cast them into the shade. In the upper stories of the forest, all the birds are looking for partners. The robin is one of the first, and loudest. His repertoire consists of over 250 different songs. Bird songs are intended mainly to impress potential partners. Here it's not about size and strength, but vocal supremacy. The avian concert continues until late in the evening. Even after the starlings have settled down in the fields, the calling doesn't stop. What happens in the dark of night usually goes unobserved. Which is why doe hares prefer to nurse their young under cover of darkness. The little one spends much of its time all alone in the world. It stays absolutely still to avoid discovery by potential enemies. The mother hare returns only two or three times a day to suckle her leveret. Now nights are not as long as they were back in winter. The equinox on March 20th is the start of the calendar spring. A dangerous time for grass frogs. As soon as the weather is right, they start the nocturnal treks to their spawning grounds. The males often make their partner selection en route, and have their mate piggyback them to the water. Not every ambitious jump into the water is successful. A short break, and this time the leap works. The grass frog's reproduction cycle starts in shallow water. Each female lays up to 4,000 tiny eggs. These swell up in the water, forming a gelatinous transparent protein casing. This protects the black tadpole embryos inside. But not from common moorhens. Frog spawn is a favorite tidbit for them. Also known as swamp chickens, they'll eat anything from whichever source of food is most convenient. Whether it be spawn or frogs. Wherever coots are found in a pond, it turns into a fight arena when it comes to choosing the best brooding site. The ducks prefer to avoid all the turmoil. A nod of the head, a quiet corner, and a general agreement seems to be reached. Once the question of brooding sites has been sorted out, the coots can now also concentrate on actually propagating their species. Sometimes it takes a little while for couples to sort out their differences. But where it comes to nest building, it's all about teamwork. Strong twigs form the foundation. For days, both partners toil away at creating a solid base for the floating nest. At breeding time, things get a little quieter around the pond. Towards the end of March, the willows at the water's edge sprout their catkins. The female flowerheads are on one twig, and the males, bearing their load of pollen, on another. Unlike the hazelnut, the catkins need a live creature to help in the pollination process. A job for insects. As a reward, they get food. The small tortoise shell has spent the winter as a butterfly, and now it's feeding on nectar to gather strength. Bumblebees and honeybees also collect the protein-rich pollen. While sipping the nectar, they fertilise the female blossoms along the way. Forsythia are the first clearly visible signs of spring. They're closely followed by hyacinth, crocuses, daffodils and tulips, all shooting up out of the ground. At the beginning of April, it's colourful spring that holds sway in our gardens. Weeks before actual fruit-bearing trees begin to blossom, and the leaves begin to sprout on the trees in the forest, within the space of a few days, the ornamental cherry lives up to its name. As fast as its lush blossoms appear, they vanish again just as quickly. Early-blooming plants and trees have a vital role to play in our gardens. They provide fresh nectar. Garden ponds are a playground for sparrows. High spirits seem to reign now among birds, too. Blackbirds busily collect nesting materials. And settle into the hedges. Now it's peak time for nest construction. The first step is always the hardest, as the hawfinch also discovers. The twigs are cumbersome, and its only tool is its beak. The main thing is that she likes it. The long-tailed tit is the real craftsman among nest builders. And a master of camouflage. In the tangle of branches, the nest is almost invisible. Spiderwebs, lichens and mosses are the best recipe for a soft, padded nursery. Starling's on the lookout for a bride. A male uses leaves as a bragging factor. This is to show off his superior nest-building abilities. This tit looks like he would quite like to move into a pre-constructed nest. But the house owner doesn't see things the same way. While she's watching him from down below, he sings the praises of his new home. Until finally, she hears him. The squirrel has also done a good job of padding its hollow high up in the tree. And returns to it more and more often. There's a big event in the offing. The contractions begin. The birth is in full progress. No sooner has the first baby been licked clean, than the next one is on its way. Baby squirrels arrive tail first into the world. It takes around two hours to give birth to four babies. Thumb-sized, naked, blind and deaf. Utterly vulnerable. They instinctively root for their mother's teats. Suckling milk will be their main activity for the next six weeks. With the cherry blossom's appearance in April, spring finally unfolds in all its glory. The cherry is one of the first fruit-bearing trees to blossom. This could be earlier or later, depending on the weather. After a long winter, if the weather warms up quickly, many types of fruit trees can begin blossoming at once. Rape seed sprouts in the fields, its vivid colour visible from afar. Between the trees, other creatures are enjoying the warmth of spring. Freed of their winter coat, sheep graze in the meadows with their lambs. While nearby, starlings hunt insects. All year round, the sheep keep the fruit orchards trimmed and fertilised. Their wool is not only a great favourite with human beings, the tit finds uses for it too. It breeds in a nesting box, as natural hollows are rare. Its eggs stay nice and warm on the cosy woollen bed. These young foxes were born a few weeks ago in March. Now, in April, they emerge from their lair for the first time. As with the young of most species, frolicking is their main pastime while their parents are away foraging. As far as they're concerned, the world is one big playground, but they still never stray far from their lair. For beekeepers and bees, now is their busiest time. The female worker bees tirelessly carry food to the hive. They feed the other workers in the hive and fill up the honeycombs. This well-known waggling dance is used by the returning bees to pass on to the others where they will find what kind of food. The marked queen now lays egg after egg in the prepared honeycomb cells. During the high season in spring, that's up to 2,000 eggs a day. Nurse bees take care of the brood for nine days, feeding the larvae. Then they are covered and pupate. Twelve days later, the fully formed bee frees itself from its wax cell and gets its first sweet energy boost. Honey is the hive's driving force. And there's plenty of raw material for it about right now, because apple trees blossom in late April and their nectar adds to the supply. Now almost all the fruit-bearing trees are in full bloom. High season in spring is a very strenuous time for bees. There's an overabundance of nectar and pollen, so they have to gather supplies constantly. All around the lake, the deciduous trees are now starting to bear pale green shoots. On the water, not much is happening. The breeding business is keeping the waterfowl fully occupied. A pair of coots guard their floating nest vigilantly. They keep the eggs warm and protect them around the clock. They change guard every couple of hours, 24 hours a day. At the edge of the pond, a cormorant warms up before its next dive. He's also enjoying the increasing warmth of the spring sun. Beach leaves only unfold towards the end of April. The leaf canopy is getting denser. Soon, only a few rays of sunshine will penetrate down to the forest floor, slowing the growth of the tree saplings below. The leaves in the treetops now take up most of the sunlight. Streams and rivers can overflow in spring. Nests built too close to the edge of the riverbank are often washed away. The dippers were unlucky. They had to build a new nest. This time, it's hidden and inaccessible behind a waterfall. Like all bird parents, they must constantly carry food back to the nest for their brood. The new nest may be more secure, but the aerial approach now requires highly acrobatic skills. Their staple diet is the caddisfly, whose larvae live in the water. Some species of caddisfly make a hard case out of stone fragments glued together with saliva-like silk. This protects them in the pupal stage underwater. After pupation, they cut their way out of the case with a strong set of mandibles that also protect them from danger. But unfortunately, not from the dipper. It has worked out how to extract the nutritious morsel out of its stony sheath. A decent-sized snack for its offspring. In April, the spring landscape undergoes a radical change. Within a few weeks, it turns from barren to green. By early May, all the trees are in full sap. And one of the last migrating birds has returned — the cuckoo. The forest floor is now darker, and animals once again find it easier to hide in the shadows. A hedgehog foraging. The dung beetle ought to look out. Dung beetles live off mushrooms, excrement and rotting plant matter. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a predator. It's mainly carnivorous. It diligently rummages about on the forest floor, which turns up quite a few dung beetles. The slow worm hides in soft moss. Its diet includes slugs. The hunt is rather an unspectacular affair. Once the slug is spotted, it's all over. The slow worm's teeth are angled backwards. This gives them a good hold on their slippery prey. Not everyone likes slug slime in their mouth, though. The forest floor now offers a rich source of food for many creatures, including the hare. The jay finds what it needs for survival here, too. It observes the forest floor attentively, because the squirrel can be a fierce competitor when foraging. Crows also scratch around beneath the trees because they know they're bound to find plenty to eat there. Jays hide their stores here. Acorns, beech nuts and other nuts. But they don't always benefit from it. It's the same as the squirrel. It doesn't always find the stores it hid so carefully the previous year. In May, the entire landscape is lush and green. Wild boar females need plenty of sustenance now. Leaves, roots, tubers, worms, larvae and whatever else they can find on the ground. By May, their offspring have mostly grown bigger. These are probably late comers. Springtime high spirits are apparently not an age-related issue. The wild sow cushions a hollow with twigs and leaves for use as a resting spot and to suckle her young. The warmth in the nest protects the squeakers from getting too chilly. If danger threatens or the sow starts in fright, the little ones react with flight behavior that has rarely been observed. They freeze, motionlessly feigning death, until the mother gives the all clear. All the sows in a group, or sounder, take care of all the group's offspring together. This way they're well protected as they're growing up. Squirrels can sleep soundly in the most uncomfortable positions. However, when awake, they typically move in hectic dashes. For both red and black-coated squirrels, these bursts of speed are quite normal. Spruce seeds need a moist environment to germinate. Thousands of them struggle up out of the ground. But only a few survive to replace the older trees later. During May, the tall conifers begin to bear the next generation of cones. When these ripen, they become part of the staple diet for squirrels. Squirrels' rear paws can turn outwards so that they can hold themselves securely while hanging upside down from trees. They have to eat very fast. It takes the seeds from around 100 spruce cones to fulfill their daily requirement. They deftly rip open the shell to get at the tiny nutritious seeds. The squirrel mother needs plenty of food right now. There's a whole nest full of babies waiting for her milk. Meanwhile, in puddles and ponds, the tadpoles have hatched. When the weather is warm, this happens within a few days. In cooler years, it can take up to four weeks. Their development also depends very much on the spring weather. After a few weeks, the first rudimentary limbs appear, starting with the back legs. Swellings indicate where the front legs will be. Their gills have receded, and the only reminder of its tadpole existence is the rudder-like tail. The metamorphosis is nearly over. Some two and a half months after spawning, the transformation is complete. The grass frog leaves the water behind it and begins its second life as a princely frog. Around the pond, things are getting a little hectic again. Little ducklings, coot chicks, all of them are clamoring to have their bellies filled. The only solution is teamwork, as these coot parents know, whether on the water or in the nest. This strenuous parental time takes between four to six weeks. The chicks can already swim shortly after they hatch. They return to their nest for a rest. In the moorhen family, only one chick has survived. It also gets fed by both parents. And it actually seems to be full at last. May bugs aren't called that for nothing. The merry month of May is high season for these insects. Every couple of years, they appear in their thousands and strip the tree's bare of leaves. As insects, they only live between four and six weeks. In this short time, they operate as eating machines. Calmly but inexorably, they munch their way through every leaf in sight. But the most important thing is reproduction. They have quite peculiar mating rituals that can often end in a crash. May bugs can't fly very well, and they're not good climbers either. And beware the mowing machines. The few of them that do survive are easy prey for birds. It's often starlings who fly in to mop up after the harvest. In May, they're busy raising their young. They have to ensure a steady food supply for about 20 days. So a plentiful supply of May bugs helps their offspring grow especially quickly. Even the little nuthatch catches these big creatures. As tidy housekeepers, they dispose of the waste outside the nursery. Thrushes are also plagued by their insatiable youngsters. And so are the tits in their nesting box. Spring is an exhausting and highly active time. Young foxes also need plenty of sustenance. At two months, they still depend on their parents to take care of them. Mowed meadows offer the best hunting opportunities. An adult roe deer has nothing to worry about. But mice do. The fox is especially keen on water voles. A nice big meal for the hungry youngsters. Only when the fox has caught several mice does it take them back to the family in their lair. A feast for the little ones. Soon they'll be hunting themselves. A meal doesn't last long and so the parents soon have to set out again on the hunt for more mice. The first roe deer kids are born mid-May. Their mother seeks shelter in the long grass. A fox could pose a danger to the little one. The mother doe is not at all happy that the predator is so close. She sounds a warning. The fox pays her no attention. He should do though, as the roe deer is not entirely defenseless. And an enraged mother can certainly turn the tables. Once the positions are clarified, they each continue on their way. At four weeks, the kid no longer hides alone in the long grass. From now on, it follows its mother wherever she goes. The mother squirrel is under nursery stress. She has to carry the responsibility for the little rascals all alone. Five weeks after birth, the youngsters can hardly be kept under control any longer. And the nursery is getting crowded. The little ones insist on going outside. They're ready for life in the treetops. All the activity makes them hungry and tired. Every couple of hours, the young squirrels need food. At last, with full bellies, they can all rest for a while. As May comes to an end, so does spring. The stressful offspring-raising time is over. Most trees have finished flowering. The sun climbs ever higher in the sky. And now, it's summer that's in the air.