Skies

The sun is higher in the sky and moving northwards in its rising and setting points. It will keep moving further north until the summer solstice next month, when it will seem to stand still, and the rising and setting points will start to narrow progressively once more.

The winter stars are setting in the west. Now, between the north-west and western sky, the brightest spring stars are on display, Arcturus in the constellation of Boötes, Spica in Virgo and Regulus in Leo. Together they're known as the Spring Triangle. To help you identify these stars, you can look between the north-west and north when it's not very dark yet, in good conditions the brightest stars will stand out. There's a bit of wayfinding/star hopping help to be had by tracing the last star in the handle of the Big Dipper down to the pointiest part of Boötes, this is Arcturus.

The Eta Aquarids occur this month, radiating from the constellation of Aquarius, which is to be found approximately in the north east late at night around 2.00am. The Eta Aquarids are associated with the debris of Halley's comet and is best viewed near dawn.

Cassopeia is sitting low in the northern horizon.

Perseus and Ariga are becoming harder to observe as they get closer to the horizon.

The star Vega and the constellation Lyra are now visible in the east. The eventual reappearance of a star or planet in the eastern morning sky, having previously set some time before in the western sky at sunset is known as its Heliacal rising.

Most of Cygnus can now been seen in the north-east. The story of Mother Goose is attached to the constellation of Cygnus, as she rises, the Milkyway trails after her.

The stars in May present a nice opportunity for wayfinding. Drawing a line between the stars Vega and Arcturus, you can find the constellation of Hercules, with his trapezium-like body, and closer to Arcturus, Corona Borealis, which is a small circlet of stars.

Plants

May is my favourite month because so many leaves and flowers are on display. If you want to get to know your local trees and plants better, this is the month to do it!

Flowers everywhere!

White frothy flowers can be found on the trees, in the hedgerows and verges, such as horse chestnut trees, elder trees, rowan trees, hawthorn/whitethorn and cow parsley.

Bluebells and wild garlic are still in flower.

Red clover starts flowering.

Bramble starts flowering from now through to April.

Rowan trees start flowering from now through to June.

Common comfrey flowers from now through to July.

Ground-elder and creeping buttercup flowers from now through to August.

Ox-eye daisy will flower from now through to September, as does field madder.

Pineappleweed flowers from now through to November

The first berries of the year, red currants, are ready for harvest.

Fairy ring champignons may appear. As do morels, which appear in woodland, particularly those dominated by ash trees. Morels are not to be confused by the false morel, which grows under pine trees in sandy soils and is deadly poisonous.

Animals

The dawn chorus peaks. In fact, International Dawn Chorus day falls on the first Sunday of May, celebrating this wonderful, annual phenomenon. During this time, birds will sing each morning, essentially broadcasting who survived the night and allowing any gaps (new territory) to be identified and vied over. With singing taking up so much energy it's also a way for males to show off that they are healthy and well-fed.

Sources vary on the order of birds in the dawn chorus, but at least agree on who sings before and after sunrise. Skylarks famously start their song a whole hour and a half before sunrise, and are the first sign of dawn. They're followed by other early risers, robins, then blackbirds and wrens. After the sun rises, tits, finches and house sparrows will join in. The members depend of course on your particular location. Learn your local bird songs (there's some great resources out there such as the Merlin Bird ID app and Xeno Canto) so you can listen and identify them should you find yourself awake in the early hours.

Birds will also participate in the evening chorus, during which they affirm their territory as night descends. The evening chorus is quieter than the dawn chorus, but you may be able to hear different species whose voices were otherwise drowned out by the cacophony of the dawn chorus.

Many birds are raising their young. Regarding the division of labour in building the nest, sitting on the nest, feeding and rising chicks, it's generally true that the closer birds of both sexes look like to each other, the more evenly these duties are split. For example, European robins (which have low levels sexual dimorphism) share the burdens of nesting whereas mallard females are solely responsible for both nest building and for raising the chicks.

As cuckoo mating season was last month and eggs hatch after just 11 days, it's likely that birds such a meadow pitpits, one of the preferred foster parents of cuckoos, are now rising cuckoo chicks, which will have kicked their own chicks out of the nest.

Nightingales, which sing during the night along with the likes of owls and nightjars, return.

Holly blue butterflies lay eggs on ivy and holly leaves.

Fallow deer give birth.

Beaver kits are born between now and June. Beavers were reintroduced where they were native in Britain. In Ireland however, there are no beavers, nor are they native.

Badger mating season ends, but implantation is cleverly delayed until the autumn

Further Reading / Listening / References

Skies

Ursa Major is now right overhead, occupying the zenith.

Cepheus is beginning to climb higher and the head of Draco is almost due east Polaris.

The constellation of Cygnus is starting to rise but remains low on the north-east horizon and is viewable only late at night. Cygnus makes that very distinct, slightly wonky cross that occupies the northern sky in the southern sky in the summer.

Perseus is descending in the north-east.

The star Aldebaran in Taurus is skimming the horizon.

Leo is high in the southern sky. A nice sky wayfinding tip to help you find Leo: follow the pointer stars of the Big Dipper that you would ordinarily use to find Polaris/the north star down until you reach the brightest star in Leo, Regulus. Leo has a clear body shape and backwards question mark forming the head and neck. Regulus is at the join of Leo's back to his neck.

Vega and the other stars of Lyra are now higher in the north-east.

The Lyrid meteor shower starts from mid to the end of April. It radiates from the constellation of Lyra, but meteors can be found anywhere in the sky (this is also because there are two minor showers occurring around the same time, the Aquarids in Aquarius and Puppids in Puppis). There will be approximately 15-20 meteors an hour. In April, Lyra rises in the north-northeastern horizon around midnight, so it may be worth a late night or two. Lyra is a very small constellation that can be found between Cygnus and Hercules, but has the benefit of having Vega, one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere sky.

Plants

Most trees will be flushing (leaves expanding from buds) including ash, beech, birch, cherry, hazel, oak, but will still look sparse for some time. Other plants take advantage of this; this is the time of year where carpets of flowering plants such as bluebell, Celandine and Violet can be found.

Orchard trees such as apple, cherry, plum and pear trees produce blossom.

Wild garlic is now flowering.

Wood anemones come into flower.

Broom and false oxslip start flowering from now through to June.

Cowslip and wood-sorrel flowers from now through to May.

Many grasses flower such as sweet vernal grass and meadow foxtail.

Chickweed starts to blanket the ground.

Animals

Fox cubs are taken on their first forays into the outside world.

Queen bumble bees find a place to make their nests and the first worker bumblebees emerge.

Songbirds are nesting and many eggs will hatch. Depending on the species, they sometimes have multiple-clutches, and while nesting will lay one egg a day. Eggs will take ten days to two weeks to hatch, and the chicks will take the same amount of time again before fledging e.g., robins.

Brent geese depart estuaries and coastal areas for their breeding grounds in Svålbard, Greenland or Canada.

Common blue butterflies lay their eggs.

Other butterflies emerge including the green-veined white, red admiral, small tortoiseshell and orange-tip.

All bats species native to Britain and Ireland emerge from hibernation.

Further reading / Listening / References

This blog grew naturally out of my project to put together a perpetual almanac and guide to nature for my friends and I. All of the things I've learned have brought me so much unexpected joy and have really changed simple things like walks and how I look at trees, the stars, clouds, the weeds in the verges and more.

The Lay of the Land

In monthly almanac posts I'll share what's happening with the plants, the animals and the skies, as well as some applicable folklore and traditions. These will be tagged with #almanac and posted in the first few days of every month.

!! Please note that while it may sometimes cover edible plants, this almanac is not a foraging guide !!

I'll also be posting about natural navigation techniques and general knowledge to help you understand what you're looking at and to give you things to observe and notice year-round. These will be tagged with #natural navigation and/or #nature knowledge.

I'll add my sources and further reading/listening recommendations to each post.

Posts will relate largely to the Northern Hemisphere, with plant and animal information mostly applicable to Ireland, the UK and northern Europe. Some information can be flipped for the southern hemisphere (e.g. the sun and moon travel across the southern sky for those in the northern hemisphere, and the northern sky for those in the southern hemisphere).

Come Along

If you'd like to come along for the adventure, I recommend that you keep your own notes of the posts and tips that interest you. You can also think about looking ahead and using other sources to note the dates of the spring and neap tides where you are (highest high-tides and lowest low-tides) and the dates of the new and full moon. When recording monthly information about the planets, I recommend you look for their rise and set times and what portion of the sky you can expect to see them in. This is not only another thing to track, but it will help you correctly identify the planets. If you aren't living in the same part of the world as me, you could also note down what the plants and animals are up to where you are.