There have been reports in the papers recently about wild plants being in flower early, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland held a four-day survey starting on New Year’s day and the result showed 368 species in bloom compared to 222 species last year, the figure for this time of year should be 30.

I can believe this as I have noticed a cowslip with flower buds opening in my garden this week, I also I saw my first snowdrop in flower on 28th of December.

Yesterday I noticed lots of catkins out mostly hazel which is not unusual for this time of year as catkins are always the first to show, catkin bearing plants take advantage of the winds to pollinate and do this before other plants start to flower.

What I have noticed this year on the hazel plants is that there are a lot of the flowers, the female part of the plant, they are very small and you need to get really close to see them, these are the parts of the plants that catch the pollen from the catkins.

The other thing I have noticed is some of the hazel have green leaves on, which is very unusual for this time of year, I am not sure if they have opened recently or have managed to hang on over winter.

But next time you are out and about and you see lots of catkins, look carefully for little red flowers on the end of buds and you will be looking at hazel flowers.