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Scotland - The harsh winter has delayed the appearance of spring plants and birds - causing alarm for gardeners afraid that warm weather species may be killed off if they are planted too early. Sightings of plants in Scotland which are usually common in late February have been far lower this year than last, according to the Woodland Trust.

Nature's Calendar, a scheme run by the Woodland Trust, revealed that far fewer snowdrops and celandine had pushed their heads above the soil by the end of the first week of February compared to last year, despite temperatures rising to an average level for the time of year.

Rooks, which head south for the winter, but usually return to the north of the UK by the time their chicks hatch in early spring, have also failed to appear north of the border, according to nature enthusiasts.

But experts claimed the early hold-up caused by the bitterly cold weather in December meant the rest of spring was likely to be "thundering" through in a rush in the coming months.

"January temperatures although warmer than 2010 are approximately average at 3.5 degrees, suggesting that spring timings as a whole should this year be about average," said a spokesman for the Woodland Trust, which encourages people to visit their local wood and record their findings.

"However, the colder than average temperatures experienced during December may have had an effect on delaying the traditional January early flowering displays of plants such as snowdrops and celandine."

Jenny Mollison, spokeswoman for the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society, said even weeds had been so far unable to grow this year due to the freezing winter.

"It is always a sign that plants and fruit or vegetables are going to struggle when you see that there are almost no weeds around yet," she said. "We have also had problems this year with a lot of rain, meaning that the usually fertile soil at this time of year is waterlogged and we can't plant anything." She added that gardeners needed to delay planting some species, such as beans and peas, until the ground has recovered and warmed up.

But gardeners claimed the snowdrop season is set to be even more impressive this year after the cold winter weather stopped many varieties from flowering early.

Tim Sparks, founder of Nature's Calendar, said: "We expect these things thundering through now, I think it's going to come through very rapidly. Things will come on in much of a rush because they've been held back."