FLOWER POWER

A oil beetle feeds on a flower close to the coastal path during the first ever nationwide survey to map the location of the threatened and creatures on March 24 near Plymouth, England. Often found on the coast, and particularly in the south west of England, the number of oil beetle species found in the UK has halved in the last 100 years and the survey will help establish the whereabouts of the remaining four species and boost efforts to secure their future. The survey is being launched today by Buglife: The Invertebrate Trust and the National Trust in partnership with Natural England and Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

The spring equinox was March 20 this year, determined by the changing sunlight and how the earth is tilted and orbits the sun. But we don't need to look to the skies to know the seasons are turning. All we have to do is glance more earthbound to find flashes of color and bursts of life. Flowers are appearing in all kinds of places since the equinox.


A bird sits on the branch of a cherry tree surrounded by pink blossoms at Tokyo's Ueno Park on April 2. Cherry blossoms, symbols of the fleeting nature of life, are blooming in Tokyo but many of the usual boisterous parties will be cancelled as Japan deals with the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters

A bee collects pollen from a lemon blossom in a public park in Amman, Jordan March 31.

A group of women take photos of flowers at King Abdullah Park during the Rabih Festival in Dammam, Saudi Arabia April 1

A bee flies to a crocus flower on a warm, sunny early spring day in Warsaw, Poland March 31.

A couple relax amongst daffodil flowers in St James's Park on March 29 in London, England.

A cherry tree blossoms in front of the Japanese Cultural Institute in Cologne, western Germany on March 22

A woman sits on a bench in a park wher hundreds of crocus flowers bloom in the warm sunny weather in the western city of Duesseldorf March 21.

Cherry trees bloom during the National Cherry Blossom Festival along the Tidal Basin in Washington April 2.

Visitors to a calligraphy stone park enjoy the good weather on the eve of Qingming, or Tomb Sweeping Day, in Beijing April 4.

A woman takes pictures of cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin March 29 in Washington, DC. As many as one million people are expected to stream through the Mall esplanade area during the Cherry Blossom Festival from March 26 through April 10.