The landscape of the foothills and coastal plain of Wicklow as seen from Kilmurray, above the town of Newtown Mount Kennedy this weekend.

Wicklow has a huge amount of trees, as you’ll notice from the photo, and the hedgerows combined with the hills and myriad valleys combine to create a jungle-like atmosphere as you drive on some of the narrower roads. The road pictured is not one of these roads, being about twice as wide as some of them.

The rain and sun of late April and early May have fed the blooms which in turn have brought out the spring butterflies. For the duration of May you will spot the beautiful little Orange-Tip butterfly on the roads and lanes all around Wicklow. The female looks like a smallish white butterfly, and easily confused with a number of species, but the male is unmistakeable due to the orange wing-tips that give this butterfly its name.

A male Orange-tip can't be mistaken for anything else.

However, although it’s extremely easy to spot Orange-tips in flight, it’s very difficult to spot them when they’re perched, as the undersides of their wings are brilliantly camouflaged.

This male hides carefully in plain sight - but the female looks identical when her wings are folded.

Ramsons, the wild garlic that perfumes Wicklow's spring woodlands.

As we enter into high spring there are still very few Swallows, and almost no House Martins to be seen due to the northern winds, but that will soon change. Already the Lilac trees have flowerspikes that are opening, releasing gentle fragrance along the hedgerows.

Lilac flower-clusters about to open.

Of course, the flower that is most associated with high spring also grows along hedgrows, but is most spectacular when seen in woodlands in large numbers, so keep your eyes out for Bluebells right now, because they are in flower. Some are actually white in colour.

Bluebells along a hedgrow.

Mysterious holes in the lawn, with mounds of soil around them, with a euro coin shown to give a sense of scale.

If you take the time to wait and calmly watch these little burrows you will eventually see the black furry heads of insects appear at the tops, and these insects will suddenly fly out of the holes, revealing ruby-red velvet-like bodies. These insects are Tawny Mining Bees, each a beautiful female. Although the holes (or mines) are currently appearing in clusters, due to breeding success in a remarkably warm and dry spring, the bees are actually solitary and only nest near each other due to convenient soil conditions.

The culprit, a beautiful female Tawny Mining Bee.

Speaking of bees, I was walking from Wicklow Town along the coast on Saturday afternoon and after three miles came across two biologists surveying bumblebees on the Murrough (the expanisve meadow that runs north from Wicklow along the coast). Aoife O’Rourke and Myles Newman are two PhD students from Trinity College, Dublin, and were carrying out a survey of bumblebees. They took my interruption of their work very kindly and we had an interesting chat. Aoife was telling me that there are actually about 80 known species of solitary bee in Ireland, and there is a lot of surveying still to do, which they were doing on behalf of the National Biodiversity Data Centre, located in Waterford. This institution is relatively new and is the first concerted effort in Ireland to unite all records of our natural heritage and make them available to the public. The Data Centre is looking for volunteer surveyors all across Ireland, and is studying a wide range of species and types of plant and animal. All records are welcome. I personally do an annual survey of butterflies for them from April until September. It’s great fun, and they provide plenty of support and training.

Biologists Myles Newman and Aoife O' Rourke surveying bees on the Murrough meadows on an unexpectedly blustery day this weekend.

The Viviparous Lizard, also known as European Common Lizard. Viviparous means "live-bearing", which is in reference to the fact that in northern climates the female lizard hatches her eggs in her womb and gives birth to live young, like a mammal does.

Butterflies are now already in abundance, and a few times I’ve had to rescue them from the windows of sheds and especially from a polytunnel. Especially interesting was a newly hatched out Speckled Wood, whose wings were still drying after having emerged from a crysalis.

Speckled Wood butterfly rescued from a polytunnel. This is usually our most common species of butterfly.

There are also dainty little Holly Blue butterflies to be seen. Sometimes they resemble petals from flowers, and appear to be falling on the wind, possibly a clever illusion to throw predators off the scent.

A male Holly Blue, which can be identified by the big black tips on his wings. This one is feeding on vinca. This is the first I saw in 2012.

The clear nights are still relatively cold, but warming day-by-day, and more and more moths are being enticed to the lights of windows. You stand a very good chance of finding a lovely fawn-coloured moth called the Common Quaker during March, and I managed to photograph one earlier in the week.

The Common Quaker, a handsome moth very common in march.

If you are in Wicklow then now is the time to get out there into the countryside, and if you’re thinking of visiting Ireland, then this is almost certainly the year to do it. Because so much is happening I’m going to be increasing my blogging rate. The tree blossoms are just about to burst into bloom…

In the last week the first few butterflies have been seen on the air in gardens, and I can vouch that I have personally seen a Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on the nectar of Vinca flowers, which is incredible so early in the year.

A Red Admiral seen feeding on winter-flowering viburnum last week. The temperatures have dipped a little since then, but this augurs well for the spring.

Also in the last week moths have begun to appear at windows, attracted by the light. A very handsome one to look out for is the Early Thorn (Selenian dentaria) which holds its wings folded over its back like a butterfly, and which is perfectly camouflaged to resemble a dead leaf.

A male Early Thorn moth that I photographed last week. You can tell this is a male by his furry or comb-like antennae. Females have whip-like antennae.

Beautiful tall daffodils are blooming all around Wicklow, and have been planted along roadsides. A wonderful spring spectacle.

Although there were reports of frogs spawning in various parts of Ireland before Christmas, I have only found frogspawn and frogs in breeding pools and ponds within the last two weeks on the landward or seaward side of the mountains. This is probably due to their experiences of the last few years, and the unexpected Siberian coldsnap that brought freezing temperatures across Europe and almost as far as Ireland. Frogspawn can freeze and die, and frogs sometimes get caught out, but tend for the most part to spawn in accordance with the general weather-pattern.

Common Frogs spawning in a muddy breeding pool in Tearmann Community Garden in Baltinglass, in west Wicklow.

The frogs in the above photograph are in amplexus which is when the male grasps the larger female around her waist and clings to her, so that he may fertilise her eggs as they enter the water. Fertilisation occurs outside of the female’s body.

The event was held in Wicklow County Buildings and was hosted by Deirdre Burns (Wicklow’s Heritage Officer) and Councillor Sylvester Burke. The County Manager, Eddie Sheehy was presiding and also in attendance were three very special guests: ecologist Karin Dubsky the chair of Ireland’s Ramsar Committee, BirdWatch Ireland ornithologist Dick Coombes, and renowned wildlife film-maker and naturalist Éamonn De Buitléar.

After the indoor event Dick Coombes led us on a wetlands walk, assisted by botanist Faith Wilson, one of Wicklow’s greatest living naturalists.

Below are just a just a small selection of photos from the day.

From left to right: Karin Dubsky, Éamonn De Buitléar, Cllr. Sylvester Burke, County Manager Eddie Sheehy and Deirdre Burns opening the event.

Áine O'Leary introduces the new website of Ireland's Ramsar Committee.

Karin Dubsky and Éamonn De Buitléar enjoying some humour at the festivities.

Dick Coombes, one of Ireland's best known ornithologists, leading us on a wetland walk in the Murrough area of Wicklow Town. Deirdre Burns is on the right taking the photo that can be seen on page 6 of this week's Wicklow People newspaper. Faith Wilson is unfortunately hidden by her position behind the second field scope.

A Blue Tit on a feeder. This species was originally recorded by Linnaeus as Parus caeruleus, but DNA studies have led many modern biologists to reclassify this species in a separate genus to other Tits, as Cyanistes caeruleus.

Although it is still very much winter in Wicklow, albeit a mild one, the birds have begun to sing their territorial songs, proclamations of ownership of land from which they will soon be harvesting food for their hatchlings. Spring is already in the air.

The Great Tit, Parus major, is a terrific singer and as colourful as a tropical parrot. These birds are extremely common in Wicklow, as they are right across Ireland and Europe

Winter Heliotrope at sunset today, a January afternoon.

Not only this, but there are insects to be found everywhere, as there is little or no frost. Even now the Green Shieldbugs are changing from their brown winter colours to the green that gives them their name.

Brown form of Green Shieldbug already changing to green.

However, unusually for so early in January, the leafy spikes of daffodils have already broken through the surface of the clay, and are far in advance of last winter. The warm soil-temperatures and general lack of cold, and particularly frost, have led to this unusual situation. But there is one plant that puts the rubber stamp to an Irish spring, and that’s the crocus. So far I haven’t found any above ground or flowering, but they are not easy to find until their bright flowers burst open, which will very likely be very soon.

Daffodils photographed today, about two or three weeks earlier than last year, due to our unusually balmy January conditions, not to mention those preceding warm spells in November and December.

So, if you’re tired of snow and frost and ice, hop on a plane or ferry and come to Wicklow to see a wonderful early spring where temperatures are well above freezing and there are even summer garden plants still blossoming…with daffodil flowers coming shortly.