Tim Reed, from the Friends of Holt Island, explains why late March to May signifies a 'Spring race'.
There is an awful lot of effort to be first: both for plants and animals, and also for humans desperate to record the first this, and the first that.
That applies on Holt Island as much as anywhere else and for plants and animals there is a reason.
For male song thrushes, it is about getting the best resources out there.
Singing from the tops of the island's trees proclaims your ownership of the choicest nesting and feeding options, and how wonderful you are.
While song thrushes are on site in February, swallows will arrive in early April.
The males reach us first, and court the females as they arrive.
The quality of their display, and the length of that all-important tail, will help them woo the best female.
Cuckoos—there seem more this year in response to increased warbler numbers in our improved condition reedbed—come in early May and leave in late June, back to Africa.
Down below on the ground, marsh marigolds and lady's smock are both caught up in their own races.
The supersized yellow flowers of the marigold have to bloom, attract the early pollinators, and set seed before the later emerging reeds shade them out for the summer.
Across the island’s boardwalk, the delicate white-pink washed flowers of the lady’s smock compete for smaller insects, before they too disappear into the background.
Water voles now rush into breeding, timing their several litters to make use of the galloping fresh growth of reeds and other grasses that follow the warmth of the spring.
Up above, in the fading evening light, the first bats of the season emerge from their winter torpor to spiral around the trees after clouds of midges.
Meanwhile, the sparrowhawk takes its time.
It hatches its eggs to coincide with the maximum number of young birds likely to be about, and to include the later-arriving summer migrants.
These have timed their arrival to coincide with the peak of insects.
There is merit to being first, and last.
You can experience all of this, and more, by visiting Holt Island.
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