A Frog, He Would A-wooing Go

A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no.
With a rowley, powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.



I was having a look in my garden pond to see if any fish had survived the many periods of ice covering this Winter, at one stage reaching two inches thick, when I spotted something in the edge of the reeds. Just the eyes and mouth of a frog were showing through the surface of the water. For several minutes I could only make out the shape of one large fat brown frog which appeared to have a grey patch on its back. It was only after I had taken some video (saved for Friday) that I realised the grey was in fact a smaller frog clinging to the larger one - presumably a male and female though it seems a bit early and cold as yet to be producing spawn. In fact even after they dived out of sight there was no evidence of any spawn in the pond.

One thing which may have encouraged the frogs was a day of glorious sunshine, apart from one hail shower, and temperatures which actually topped 7C in the afternoon though it soon dropped back to 2.5C when the Sun went down.

I did see two small fish swimming about so at least some have survived the worst of the cold weather. There will no doubt be more as there were last year when I didn't see any until well in to the Spring.

The verse at the top is the start of an old nursery rhyme / childrens' song which can be seen in full on many sites on the internet including Mama Lisa's World, House of English Nursery Rhymes.

Gathering of the Clans

Most early mornings there are gatherings of various birds. Maybe they are warming in any early sunshine. Probably working out the best route to take to find easy food.

The Rooks usually choose one of the highest houses nearby to sit and ponder the day's possibilities. Here there are Rooks and the occasional Woodpigeon.



Most of the Woodpigeons prefer a safer, more sheltered observatory.



The earliest arrivals are the Blackbirds which gather on my lawn just as it starts to get light and soon start bickering over the seed which is scattered from the feeders.



I think I can say that this morning was the first time I have heard a proper dawn chorus this year. Although I have often heard Robins, this time I could hear about four different species welcoming the Sunrise.

A Walk through the Churchyard - Which Fungi?

For yesterday afternoon's walkies I thought we would try a route we haven't used for a couple of months. As the earth footpath is low lying it soon gets waterlogged but yesterday it was just a bit on the squelchy side but easily passable. Along this path are tall stumps of old Ash Trees which were cut down a few years ago and I noticed one was now being colonised by fungi. (Photos are not brilliant as I only had the mobile phone and even though it was a dull afternoon the highlights were over exposed)



After much searching through Google I am pretty sure the dark finger like growths are Dead Man's Fingers (Xylaria polymorpha)but I am not at all sure about the orange growths. To me they could well be one of the many variations I found called Jack O'Lantern but which variety is still a mystery to me. There was also a clump of these growing on top of the stump.



Continuing through to the back of the churchyard there was a lovely patch of Snowdrops under a group of ancient trees,



There I stood for a while with Bobby patiently waiting as I scoured the branches and trunks for any signs of bird or animal life to no avail. The only creatures about were some fancy chickens which had escaped from the neighbouring house and a lone rabbit hopping about the grass.

As we walked through the churchyard we passed one of my favourite spots this time of year. Here a large group of Winter Aconite were showing their bright yellow flower buds which will be opening over the next week or so.



Twice in the past I have gathered seed from these plants. Each time they have germinated but as soon as they reached about an inch in height they wilted and died. I see it is possible to buy the bulbs of cultivated Winter Aconite so I must try that way to get my own display of one of my favourite late Winter / early Spring flowers.

Blackbirds and Jackdaws

I am still getting anything up to 18 Blackbirds visiting each day, especially at daybreak. This female was waiting patiently for the squabblers to move out of the way so she could nip down for a quick meal.



I wonder how long it will be before the winter visitors return to their native land.

Also becoming regular are short visits by up to 6 Jackdaws. They are very cautious and disappear rapidly when they spot me looking through the kitchen window. This individual is easy to pick out as it has an unusual amount of white feathers showing amongst the normal dark grey and black. I wonder if it is the same one I photographed last February.



Weather is a mixture of short sunny intervals combined with long dull cloudy periods coupled with drizzle and the occasional snow shower. Next task, a quick visit to the local Focus store for another large bag of high energy no mess bird seed. The birds are getting through seed even faster than they did in the colder weather. The small feeder was half empty by 8.30 this morning. By now the supply of hedgerow berries must be pretty well depleted and with the constant damp, cold days insects must also be in short supply.

Friday at the Flicks (Doves)

These two lovey doveys spent quite a while sat on the imitation wagon wheel preening each other.



It was a very pleasant surprise when this Stock Dove paid a visit.  At first it was very nervous and nearly left a couple of times when it spotted me looking through the kitchen window, Once it had joined the waddling Wood Pigeons it concentrated on collecting as much seed as it could find. I was entranced with the way the neck feathers looked as they shimmered different colours in the Winter sunlight. Of course the Starlings had to make their presence felt, if only on the sound track.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

A New Dove Visits the Garden

I had never heard of the Stock Dove until I saw a photo of one on ShySongbird's Twitterings so you could have knocked me down with a feather when one joined the Wood Pigeons on the lawn yesterday scavenging for scattered seed.





What had caught my eye was the glow from the neck feathers which looked like a piece of shiny sweet wrapper changing colour as it caught the sunlight from different directions. Often a metallic green and sometimes an iridescent pink. The bird started near the bottom of the garden and was obviously very nervous so I had to move about slowly in the kitchen as I took some photographs. Gradually it came closer and stayed long enough for me to get some video which should be available tomorrow and shows much better the colourful glow from those neck feathers.

Winter is Still With Us

Didn't get far on the morning walk. Not much more than a hundred yards or so on the nearest grass verge. After last night's rain and a drop in temperature the road and pavements where a smooth sheet of ice. A little later I could hardly see the houses opposite as a blizzard descended for a while. The snow showers have continued on and off all day so far though with a rise in temperature it isn't settling for long.



As can be heard on the soundtrack the Sparrows have hardly paused for breath all day as they chatter about the awful weather conditions.