Springwatch, Part 2

The first of the years flowering shrubs have begun to burst into colour in the garden. The yellow Forsythia and the pink flowering currant, Ribes. This is an exciting time as it indicates to me that spring has definitely arrived and from this point onwards there will be no turning back.

A blackbird is building a nest in one of the flowering currants at the front of the house while a magpie is repairing last years nest in a tall willow tree at the back. Magpie's are predatory birds and if they discover the blackbird nest they will steal the eggs, and the chicks, to feed their own brood, and I'm afraid it will be bye bye blackbird.

Frogs have begun to spawn in the pond, I'm finding them all over the garden and I've had to lift the net to allow them access to the pond. The females, swollen with spawn, carry the smaller males on their backs, sometimes two at a time, as the males jostle for the privilege of mating. It's all just a waste of time, although I'd never tell them so, because as soon as the tadpoles emerge the fish will eat them and few, if any, will survive.

A saw a shrew the other day nosing about in the leaves. I assume it was looking for worms or woodlice. A while ago I saw one attack a frog twice its size. The frog jumped into the water and submerged with the shrew still attached. I expected the shrew to let go and return to the surface, as did the frog I suspect, but it didn't. It may have been a water shrew, they have a venomous bite and can stay underwater for long periods of time. I waited for ages but I never saw either one of them return to the surface. Did the shrew drown or did the frog die from the bite, I don't know, but  if the shrew killed the frog, how the hell would it get it to the surface? Perhaps it would leave it on the bottom and keep returning to feed, I'll have to make enquiries. 

 When I was young sparrows and starlings dominated the bird table, but both of these species have suffered a decline, while blue tits and great tits have become the most common birds in my garden. I tend to treat them with contempt, as I once did with the humble house sparrow, but they are attractive little birds and have a lot to offer the observer, as they search among the shrubbery for grubs and caterpillars to feed their offspring. I'll have to put up a bird box so that I can watch them more closely, maybe one with a camera inside? 

No Charge

A boy handed his mother a piece of paper. It read,

For washing up, 50p

For making my own bed, 50p

For going to the shop, 50p

For taking out the rubbish, 50p

For getting a good report card, £1

Total owed £3.

His mother picked up the pen, and she wrote,

For bringing you into this world, there’s no charge.

For comforting you when you cried, no charge.

For bathing you and changing nappies there isn't a charge.

For washing your clothes and for wiping your nose there’s no charge.
For hugs and sticking plasters on your knees, still no charge.

For loving you, unconditionally, even when your naughty, there’s no charge.

Total owed, nothing.

On Mothers day give a card and flowers, no charge.
Give some of your precious time, no charge. 
You will never be able to repay the debt you owe.

This blog has been inspired by the song, No Charge.

Springwatch

It may not feel like spring, and officially it isn't, in fact it's been hailing and snowing for most of the  week, but daffodils are flowering in my garden and I always associate daffodils with spring. By the law of Higgins the year is divided into four equal monthly parts. June, July and August constitute summer. September, October, and November, autumn, December, January, and February, are definitely the winter months, so consequently March, April, and May, must logically be labelled as spring.

Birds will be nesting soon, so it will be time to stop feeding peanuts, so that parents will have to search for more suitable food to feed their chicks. I stopped feeding peanuts a while ago because squirrels were coming into my garden from the trees across the road, balancing on my larch lap fencing, like tightrope walkers, and making their way to the bird table around the back of the house. Now I have no problem with that except that two of them have been run over,  and to discourage them from crossing the road I've discontinued feeding peanuts. 

Last week I had a flock of long tailed tits in my garden. I only see them once or twice a year. They arrive in huge flocks, which can take fifteen or twenty minutes to pass through  as they hop from tree to tree, bush to bush, and branch to branch, searching for food. They arrive suddenly and just as suddenly they disappear again for another year.

When I was at school we visited the Ribble Valley  to see the Roman museum at Ribchester. On that trip I was more intrigued by the colourful snails, which I had never seen before, than the Romans, although the full face helmet, discovered in the River Ribble is something to behold. Now that I live in the Ribble Valley the snails are less of an attraction and I am intent on eradicating them from my garden. During my post winter tidy up I've discovered hundreds of them overwintering on fences, walls, my greenhouse and even beneath the soil. It looks like it will be war again this year.

Across the street we often have a visitor, a tawny owl which  sits on a street lamp and hoots incessantly throughout the night. You might think that the sound of an owl at night is a little eery, and unnerving, but I've become accustomed to its nighttime calling and barely notice it at all. If it's intention is to rid my garden of the many field mice which inhabit it then it's failing miserably in its duty.