The winter of 2013 has seemed perpetual. As Easter fell, swathes of the UK were buried under a compacted blanket of snow, bringing scenes more akin to January than springtime.

Yet this snowfall wasn't a freak event but just another example of a winter that has stubbornly refused to loosen its grip.

Apart from proving an unwanted nuisance, the unprecedented prolonged cold spell which lasted through April has had an alarming effect on livestock and wildlife, with sheep and lambs dying and birds of all species struggling.

The humble hedgehog, whose UK population is already in a state of long-term decline, has been blasted by the blizzards.

Rising temperatures act as a trigger to wake hedgehogs from hibernation, but this year the warmth has not come.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society warned that hedgehogs are running out of food, weakening in their sleep and dying before they wake.

Hedgehogs that have woken up are also facing problems; they are struggling to find food and we are getting increasing numbers of calls about them appearing during the daytime, desperate for some food.

The Buglife charity has warned that if the cold persists there may be another problem lying in wait for birds.

They say if the cold spell continues for several more weeks and blossoms such as sallow and blackthorn 'go over' without sufficiently warm days for insect activity, spring pollinators such as queen bumblebees, spring hoverflies and butterflies could be affected through mass mortality, plus the pollination of spring blossoms and flowers will be affected for the second year running.

This would have a knock-on effect for birds, because their nesting cycles are timed to match the emergence of key invertebrates such as aphids, caterpillars and midges.

There’s fewer sightings than would be expected of spring butterflies such as the orange-tip and if the spring isn’t warm some amphibians may decide not to breed at all. Bring on the warm weather!

Causing a stink in springtime

Spring has finally sprung and our woods and hedgerows are filled with a stinky aroma, but rather than turn our noses up, it's time to embrace the wonders of wild garlic.

Now is the key period to experience the UK's wild garlic, or ramsons crop, at its best.

But there's much more to this plant than its stinky aroma - this is one of our most delicious foraging foods and it spreads like a green plague across the woodland floor.

The plant appears in tightly packed ranks in shady woodland, often near streams; the matt green leaves accentuated by delicate white flowerheads.

While the plant doesn't offer much to look at, it certainly presents a banquet for the nose. Follow your snout and enter an oniony, garlicky wonderland.

The taste is a light, fresh and very palatable version of its more robust garlic cousin. Ramson now graces many a fancy restaurant menu and it's not hard to understand why.

It is a common plant found across the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland. As a species that favours damp woodland, the west is the best for ramsons, where the plant can be hugely abundant.

By early summer, the wild garlic feast is sadly over. But the historic importance of the plant is recognised across the land through place names.

The word 'ramsons' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'hramsa', meaning rank - possibly a reference to the strong and persistent smell. Ramsbottom and Ramsey on the Isle of Man all bear testimony to a shared stinky past.