There is no official definition of the beginning of spring. The results we show here are based on the first week in which the average temperature (7 days, day and night) exceeds 10ºC. We see across almost the entire northern hemisphere that spring starts a few weeks earlier than a century ago Until the 1970s, it fluctuates around day 100, which is mid-April. After that, on average, it gets warm earlier, with very early extremely mild weeks in 2002, 2004 and 2007. On average, spring in the Netherlands now starts about two weeks earlier than in 1900-1970, with, of course, variations from year to year.

5 questions about early spring

The breeding season has started. The sun is shining, the flowers seem to be blooming earlier this spring and the animals are active early. Forest ranger and weather expert Henk-Jan van der Veen answers 5 questions about early spring.

Spring migration earlier
In Europe, hundreds of millions of migratory birds are currently flying to their nesting sites. They mainly come from Africa or Southern Europe and are on their way to the north. Twice a year, massive bird populations take place all over the world. In the Netherlands, many bird species leave for the south in autumn and winter guests from the Far North come our way. In the spring, everything goes the other way. That does happen in a different way.

Bird migration is one of the most fascinating natural phenomena on Earth. The autumn migration is from the end of August to November. Millions of birds then fly to their wintering grounds. Certain species leave, other species come here to overwinter. Gert and Adriaan Sleeuwenhoek give this Masterclass about their shared passion.

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