Springtime in Alderney

From mid March natural Alderney throbs with life. Trees and hedgerows shimmer with verdant green buds, bats, butterflies and unusual inspects reappear. Thousands upon thousands of Northern Gannets have returned to stake their noisy claim on Les Etacs.

Footpaths and verges are radiant with spring flowers – blazing gorse, delicate primroses, drifts of cool bluebells, three cornered leaks, and hawthorn blossom. The air is sweet and the sound of birdsong all encompassing. Hardy souls will venture into the sea for the first time for an enervating, blood tingling, life affirming dip.

It's not just natural Alderney that is stirring into life. A bustling diary of events starts to unfold, of festivals, traditional celebrations and sporting activities.

In March Alderney's history-themed literary festival takes place, while in May and June there's Milk a Punch Sunday, where pubs serve up creamy, rum-spiked punch to their own well guarded recipes, the vibrant Performing Arts Festival and Wildlife Week. Then there's the inter Channel Islands Muratti football showdown, a coastal run and two Golf Opens, all just for starters.

The Channel Island's only working train starts rumbling along the track in Braye up to the Island's iconic Lighthouse boat trips launch for puffin viewing expeditions, and the museum opens – a well stocked treasure trove of antiquity and artifacts of local life.