I have to get outdoors on a sunny spring day, and I’m not the only one. The warming sunshine after a cold and dull winter is such a novel treat that I can’t resist the urge to start work on the allotment.

While extricating the three-pronged fork that lives among the old tools and empty pots in my shed I noticed a flickering movement. Wings were fluttering in the gloom and a rather tatty peacock butterfly made its way unsteadily and blinking (I like to imagine) into the light from the open door.

Soon it was heading off into the bright midday sun to seek out hedgerow blossom and load up with its first nectar of the season.

We all find our own ways of surviving the winter, but not always in a shed.

Hibernation underground in burrows or under leaves is the only way that mammals like hedgehogs and badgers can survive the colder months.

Reptiles and amphibians such as adders, grass snakes and newts curl up in a state of dormancy in their hibernacula — usually a pile of logs or an old compost heap.

Even woodlice, ladybirds and butterflies such as the peacock and red admiral lower their body temperature and snooze through winter in a sheltered spot.

Shivering to warm up Another favourite insect of mine that heralds the spring is the bumblebee. Bees are unusual insects in that they can warm themselves up, which means they can fly even on chilly spring days. They ‘shiver’ their flight muscles and raise their body temperature by up to 20C.

The bees I see feeding on early flowers such as white and red dead nettles are invariably queens. The rest of the colony died at the onset of winter and only the queen gets through, sustained by her fat and usually buried a few inches down in the soil at the base of a wall. As soon as she emerges from hibernation she must find a suitable animal burrow or heap of material in which she can found her new colony. Once established, and suitably fuelled by nectar, she will lay eggs to create the new generation – workers to begin with, and later males and queens.

Humming trees Walking around our woodland reserves such as Finemere or Whitecross Green, I often hear a ‘humming tree’. The numbers of early bees and other insects foraging around a sallow or goat willow make such a noise with their wings that you can hear them from several yards away. The female catkins of the sallow are full of nectar and the insects make a beeline for it!

It’s possible that another woodland hibernator may be waking up just now. Masquerading as a dormant leaf bud on sallow willows, the young caterpillar of the purple emperor butterfly is preparing to change from its winter disguise of dull brown. The caterpillar nibbles on green leaf tips as they emerge, gradually taking on precisely the same colour, even having pale lines that look like ribs of the sallow leaves.

We can all help emerging insects in our gardens by leaving a patch of nettles as instant feeding and resting places for butterflies, or planting early spring-flowering shrubs and trees that provide nectar stations.

See butterflies, bees and other creatures emerging from hibernation on your local nature reserves. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust’s new website www.bbowt.org.uk has pages for all reserves open to the public, and a comprehensive guide to wildlife walks and talks.