The warm weather last week had me migrating to the garden to work. I told myself it was so peaceful round here that I would have no problem concentrating. But it was a bit like those days when your teacher relaxes and says, "Let's have lessons outside today." In other words, not a huge amount got done while I gazed at the blossom and daydreamed to the sound of the rooks making it known to all the neighbourhood that they rule the roost . . . Peaceful? Hardly, what with the smaller garden birds competing with the rooks with their own birdsong; a buzzard mewing as it was mobbed by a couple more rooks, and our chickens also clamouring to be heard, just in case I had forgotten they existed.
And then there's Kenna wanting to play ball, and the cats coming to sit on the table next to my laptop because apparently that's the best place to sunbathe.
As if that weren't enough wildlife to deal with, we have had quite a number of toads come to visit. Admittedly they don't come out in the day very much. They prefer to lurk in damp spots after dusk. But they have had a habit of chosing our path to sit on and Kenna and I have nearly trodden on them more than once. I am very fond of frogs and toads and would like to encourage them into the garden, so I don't want to hurt them. I now go out with a torch when I take Kenna out for her last walk around the garden before bed, just in case we come across any more amphibious guests underfoot.
My son is always keen on welcoming more wildlife into the garden, and went to great lengths to get frogspawn for a pond which he dug himself earlier in the year. He spotted some lovely large lumps of it floating in jellified blobs on the surface of a pond when we went out for a walk a couple of weeks ago and insisted on my buying a bucket for him to carry it home. We could only find a tiny bucket in a gift shop nearby, so took a very small amount. Here it is just after the miniscule tadpoles hatched last week:
And then there's Kenna wanting to play ball, and the cats coming to sit on the table next to my laptop because apparently that's the best place to sunbathe.
My son is always keen on welcoming more wildlife into the garden, and went to great lengths to get frogspawn for a pond which he dug himself earlier in the year. He spotted some lovely large lumps of it floating in jellified blobs on the surface of a pond when we went out for a walk a couple of weeks ago and insisted on my buying a bucket for him to carry it home. We could only find a tiny bucket in a gift shop nearby, so took a very small amount. Here it is just after the miniscule tadpoles hatched last week:
We very much hope we'll get some little frogs from this lot, but what with those rooks and the odd passing heron, they will have to be a feisty bunch to survive around here.
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