Tadpoles

The weather is much milder today and there has also been quite a bit of sun. The last of the frog spawn in our garden pond has now hatched. The pond is black with tiny wriggling tadpoles.

developing frog spawn

I moved a small clump of the frog spawn to an aquarium tank in my workshop. I did the same last year to ensure some of them make it to froglet stage. The workshop is not too warm this time of the year and so the development is a similar time span to the spawn in the pond. The tadpoles are beginning to take shape, some slightly more advanced than others.

Developing spawn

The frog spawn seems unaffected by the ice previously. I noticed this morning that the spawn has started to develop, they now resemble tiny bean shapes.

frozen spawn and nest box

I awoke this morning to discover the pond had frozen during the night. embeded in the ice were the tops of each clump of spawn. The ice was thin, so hopefully it has not caused too much damage. I boilded some water and carefully poured it onto the ice away from the spawn to speed up thawing.

As I came back from taking our daughter to school I stopped to check out the bird box mentioned earlier. After a few minutes a blue tit arrived and entered the nest box. It stayed inside for about 3 minutes before coming out. Another blue tit was near the nest box. Not conclusive evidence that they are nesting, but a good sign.

Woodecker, great tits and flying squirrel.

Walking past Easthill Park this morning I heard the familiar drumming of the great spotted woodpecker and a flash of black and white as it flew past.

The park was alive with the usual tits, finches etc. The chaffinches were particulalrly visible today

On the wayback I noticed movement at the far end of the paddocks in the adjacent horse sanctuary. I walked along by the park wall, adjacent to the paddocks for a closer look. It was a fox. Above me I could see a noisy pair of great tits in the branches. As I came out of the park I watched a squirrel making its way along a branch which extended out over the road. At the last moment the squirrel made a leap, rotating its tail in mid air, paws outstretched and landed on an evergreen on the oteher side. Well thats one way to cross the road.

Frog spawn, rescued bee and bird courship

I opened the curtains this morning to discover a quiet and peaceful pond. The frantic diving of frogs that usually greets me when I open the curtain is over and the frogs have vanished as quickly as they appeared. One loan frog bobbed at the surface.

I went out to take a closer look and noticed a large bumblebee on the path (possibly a queen). One of its wings was out of place and the bee was struggling. As I got near to the bee, it lifted its legs on the side nearest to me, either as an attempt to ward me off or a half hearted attempt to defend itself. It is liklely that our cat has been 'playing' with the bee. Unfortuantely, before we took the cat on it had been kept indoors all its life and had honed its hunting skills on invertebrates to perfection (and to my annoyance). I managed to get the bee to climb up onto a twig and I placed it on a plant in a window box. I checked on it later in the day and the bee had gone, so hopefully it was okay. I have seen bees and wasps use their legs to clean their bodies and wings, so hopefully she was able to push the wing back into place.

In Easthill Park the bird courship is hotting up and the territorial calls of black bird and robin are very evident. Solitary goldfinches were at the top of different trees singing and chaffinches chased each other around the shrubs. The calls of great tits could also be heard from the far side of the park. I noticed a blue tit checking out one of the nest boxes in the park.

It had a good look in through one of the holes then hopped around in the branches as if checking out the area for its suitablility. The blue tit checked out the box 5 times while I watched. I will keep a special eye on this box, which I pass most days, as I am hoping the blue tits will move in and nest.

Croaks and frog spawn

Last night the frog chorus started up and continued on an off throughout today. There are now 10 clumps of frog spawn, three small the others medium sized clumps. Still impossible to get close enough to count the number of frogs as many dive while still a couple of metres or more away. There is also a lot of oxygenating weed in the pond, which I left end of last year instead of thining, because of the large number of damselfly larvae. It does however mean that you can only count the frogs when they are on the surface.