February in Particular

Early February

Frog spawning

Toads crossing: One of the great wonders of the world - the mass movement of toads and frogs (at different times and different places to ancestral ponds) - help them by taking great care.

Candlemas Day, the Feast of Purification of our Lady and the Feast of lights. Snowdrops, otherwise known as February Fair Maids, Candlemas Bells and Mary's Tapers, start to bloom and are brought indoors to 'purify the house', and candles are lit. A traditional time for weather forecasting before the calendar changed: "If Candlemas Day be wind and rain/Winter is gone, and won't come again". Robert Herrick wrote of the "Ceremonies for Candlemasse Eve"

Chinese New Year is celebrated on the first new moon between Jan 20-Feb 19

Snowdrops appear all over the country during February. You can see them at their best at:

Abbotskerwell, cemetery, Devon.
Near the remains of Ankerwyke Priory, Middx.
Brinkburn Priory nr Rothbury, Northumberland.
Castle Hedingham, Essex.
Damerham Churchyard, Hants, and around Donhead, Wilts.
Grey Friars Priory, Dunwich, Suffolk.
Halsdon Nature Reserve, Devon, +44(0)1392 279244
Hodstock Priory, Notts, between Worksop and Blyth +44(0)1909 591204
Kingston Lacy (NT), Dorset
Lacock Abbey, Lacock, Wilts - drifts of snowdrops and other spring bulbs in the Victorian woodland. Contact +44(0)1249 730227.
Anglesey Abbey, Lode, Cambs - a winter walk amongst snowdrops mixed with shrubs chosen because they change their appearance in winter. Contact +44(0)1223 811200.
Roche Cistercian Abbey near Maltby, Yorks.
The Nadder and Ebble Valleys, Wilts.
Brandy Mount House, New Alresford, Hants - one of three national collections. Contact +44(0)1909 591204.
St Mary's of Speen churchyard, Newbury, Berks.
Pamphill Churchyard, NT, Dorset.
Reighton, N.Yorks.
Walsingham Priory, Norfolk.
St Wilfrid's Church, Warnford, Hants.
Wisley, Surrey, the Royal Horticultural Society gardens +44(0)1483 224234

Snowdrop events include:

Potato Day is held around the beginning of February at Ryton Organic Gardens, Coventry , Warwickshire. Over 100 varieties of seed potato for sale, advice, displays, cookery demonstrations, talk on potatoes & pesticides.

Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day

41 days before Easter Sunday (which is 'the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or next following the twenty-first of March the Spring Equinox'). The making of pancakes was a way of using things up before the abstinence of Lent.

Pancake Day Races:

Olney, Bucks - Pancake racing appears to have started in around 1445. According to legend, a local housewife in Olney was busy making pancakes when he heard the church bell calling all to the shriving service, when you are absolved of sins after confession. Either to avoid being late or as a bribe to speed up the service before the holiday, she ran through the streets with a pancake in the pan, and the race has been run ever since. Competitors must supply their own pancake and pan, and the winner is rewarded with a kiss from the verger. The event runs from 10am-1pm with races, street entertainers, stalls and pancakes. Contact Cowper & Newton Museum, +44(0)1234 711516, or look at this web-site.

Winster, Derbys also has a web-site

Another race is held at Spitalfields, London (Contact Alternative Arts, +44 (0) 207 375 0441)

Lichfield, Staffs, has a Shrovetide Fair & Pancake Day Races - The 300 year old Shrovetide Fair is opened by the Town Crier's proclamation in the Market Square at noon. The 'pan on bell' then sounds from St Mary's church and children who follow the mayor onto the funfair rides can have their first go free. The pancake races are held along Bore Street, after which the civic officials go to the Guildhall for a toast to the fair and a slice of simnel cake. See another event in Lichfield in April.

Shrovetide Football:

Atherstone, Warwicks, game played with water-filled ball decorated with local football team's colours. The game lasts 2 hours from kick off at 3pm. It originates from the reign of King John as a contest between men from Warwickshire and Leicestershire, who competed for a bag of gold. Contact H Taft, press officer +44(0)1827 715786;

Other games are recorded at Ashbourne, Derbys; Chester-le-Street & Sedgefield, Co. Durham

Lentsherd at Clovelly, N.Devon - on Shrove Tuesday, children run through the village to the beach to 'drive the devil into the sea' before Lent starts. This custom has been practised for over 100 years. Contact Clovelly Visitor's Centre +44(0)1237 431781.

Cornish Hurling match, St Columb Major, Cornwall - this is an ancient game with few rules played over a 25 square mile playing field on Shrove Tuesday. In mid afternoon a man climbs a ladder in town throws a silver covered applewood ball to the opposing teams of townsmen and countrymen below, shouting "Town and country do your best, for this parish I must rest". The teams scramble for the ball in order to pass it through their goal, one a mile into the country, the other a mile out of the other side of town.

Mid-February

St Valentine's Day, thought to have derived not so much from the saint, but because it coincides with the mating season of birds: "For this was on Saint Valentine's Day, When ev'ry fowl cometh to choose her mate" Chaucer, Parlement of Foules. This is a traditional time for sowing onion and garlic seeds.