Spring – and the Frogs are Burbling in the Pond

Spring is in the air – the frogs have awoken from their winter sleep

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I woke up this morning expecting to hear the dawn chorus, instead there was a gentle burbling floating in through the open window – the  frogs were back in the pond – a sure sign of Spring.  Later in the year, there’s sometimes a frog or two croaking in the shallows on the edge of the pond, but, this time of year, they make a soothing gurgling sound.  I love to sit in the sunshine by the pond with a cup of tea and count the frogs – if I sit really still they bob up to the surface one by one and peer at me between the kingcup leaves.

When we first moved in there were no fish in the pond but lots of frogs – and one or two newts – and the frogspawn soon became tadpoles that turned into tiny froglets.  Now we have goldfish and they eat most of the tadpoles so there are very few tiny frogs tp terrify with the lawnmower – we used to have to mow the lawn so slowly to give them chance to get out of the way!

A Frosty February morning

A Frosty February morning

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Yesterday the frogs were gathering in the pond and Spring was in the air, today we wake to a winter frost.  I’ve had to thaw the water out in the bird bath this morning for the robin and the nuthatch has been patiently waiting for me to get up and put some more peanuts out.  It is a really beautiful morning though.

Better than all the rain we’ve had, although there is an old saying:

“If in February there be no rain, ’tis neither good for hay nor grain.”

which I found in a Country Wisdom & Folklore Diary www.talkingtreesbooks.co.uk

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Our Wildlife Pool

A pool attracts all sorts of plants, animals and insects.

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It’s difficult to believe that when we originally dug out this pool and lined it with local clay it was just bare soil. I was told by our local farmer to pull out the trees when they were just saplings – should have listened – now we are having to cut them down.

I also didn’t believe the farmer that bulrushes would take over the pool – I was so delighted to have my own bulrush that I left it and, within a few years the pool was full of bulrushes and not much else. Then it dried out one summer and the next year the bulrushes had almost gone but yellow flag irises were taking over and the water lily was looking decidedly peaky. So you do need to maintain a pond to keep the balance but it’s worth it – we get lots damselflies and dragonflies as well as frogs, toads and newts.

Impossible to believe that the picture below was taken from virtually the same spot in May 2006!

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