Frogs Spawning in the Garden pond

"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 Antony Rowley....."

Thomas Ravenscroft

The first frogspawn was laid in our garden pond on Wednesday, 19th March, which is an average date for spawning here. The frogs were still very active yesterday and, despite diving for cover the first time I approached the pond, I was able to creep a lot closer on the second attempt as their minds were obviously on other things!

I counted at least nine frogs. The photos would have been a bit sharper I think if I'd used the tripod and some pictures are cropped trying to get rid of some of the reeds and water plants that appeared in nearly every photo :)

In amplexus!

In amplexus again!

Marsh Lane and Garden Moths

I visited Marsh Lane NR last Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours - a beautiful walk in really warm sunshine. I was hoping to see some butterflies but only spotted two at such a distance I was unable to identify them. Near Railway Hide a small copse was just full of clouds of white blossom.

A small flock of Long-tailed Tits were foraging in the hedgerow near Railway Hide and I managed to get a record shot of one of them.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were seen from one of the screens overlooking car park pool. I was hoping to seem some signs of Courtship display but had to make do with one of the pair catching and swallowing a rather large fish!!

Great Crested Grebe

I did spot a small brown mammal (unfortunately only from the corner of my eye) running along the side of a small brook near Oak Hide. My initial reaction was oh my goodness its a water vole but to be honest I think it was too small and was probably a bank vole. I shall be keeping an eye on this section of the reserve though and will be looking out for any signs of vole activity.

I added four species to my 2014 bird list - Tree Creeper, Redshank, Green Woodpecker and Oystercatcher - the list now stands at 59. Treecreeper and Redshank were also new species for my list of birds seen at the reserve (54 now in total)




Garden Moths


With all the mild, dry weather we have been experiencing I have been leaving the moth trap on every night.



Monday 10th March

Minimum Temp 3.1 degrees Centigrade 15w Actinic Skinner Trap


Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) x 2 (NFY)

Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 6

Hebrew Character

Tuesday 11th March

Min Temp 2.7 degrees Centigrade 15w Actinic Skinner Trap


Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 2

Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) x 1 (NFY) and (NFG)

Emmelina monodactyla x 1


Twin-spotted Quaker

Wednesday, 12th March

Min Temp 0.8 degrees C 15w Actinic Skinner Trap

Moths 0


Thursday, 13th March

Min Temp 0.3

Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 1


Friday 14th March - GMS Week 3

Min Temp 7.7 degrees C 15w Actinic Skinner Trap


Emmelina monadactyla x 1

Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 2

Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) x 2 (NFY)

Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) x 1



Emmelina monodactlya. I love this little moth and really like the name "Emmelina". In fact, if I had been mothing when my daughter was born I really think she would have been called Emmelina rather than Emily!!

Clouded Drab

I am pretty sure this is a worn Clouded Drab

Saturday 15th March

Min Temp 7.3 degrees C 15w Actinic Skinner Trap


Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) x 1

Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 5

Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) x 2 (NFY)

Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) x 2

Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) x 1 (NFY)

Amblyptilia acanthatdactyla x 1 (NFY)


This photo shows the difference in size and markings of Common Quaker on the left and Small Quaker on the right

Early Grey

Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

Sunday 16th March

Min Temp 8.7 degrees C 15w Actinic Skinner Trap

Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 1

Emmelina monodactyla x 1



Please let me know if any of the above identifications are incorrect.


We've had several species of butterfly in the garden over the last week - Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Small White and the number of moth species seen this year is now up to 13.



Common frogs have been moving around in the pond for the last week or so but it was only today that frogspawn started to appear. I only spotted it tonight but if the frogs are still active tomorrow I will try and get some photos.



Finally, a photo of the echinops I bought from the Botanical Gardens - in the background is a beautiful pelargonium bought at the same time.

A March in Support of Badgers in Stratford

Those of you who have been visiting my blog for any length of time (or follow me on Twitter!!) will know how much I am against the unscientific, inhumane, unselective and uneconomic slaughter of badgers in a misguided attempt to help solve the problem of bovine TB. Today I attended a peaceful march in Stratford upon Avon against the badger cull. The march was attended by hundreds of people of all ages and from all walks of life. Hopefully, the march will have brought the ill conceived and flawed slaughters to the attention of more members of the public and even, if just a few join the ever growing "badger army", it will have been worth it.

On the march

There were quite a few speeches by a member of the Green Party, The Badger Trust Press Officer, Gloucester against Badger Shooting (Gloucestershire was one of the areas where pilot culls took place last year) and several others. Here is Dominic Dyer, the newly appointed CEO of the Badger Trust who made an excellent and inspirational speech.

I've already written several posts explaining why I am so against the badger culls so I won't start spouting off again!! But for more information and to see why I feel so strongly on the matter the following websites have some excellent information and articles:

www.badger.org.uk

www.badgergate.org




Here's just a few photos I took of Stratford on the walk to and from the car park


Shakespeare's Birth Place

The Garrick Inn - one of the oldest buildings in Stratford - it dates back to the sixteenth century although parts of the building are believed to be from the 14th century.

D rather kindly came along with me to offer some moral support :) We were talking on the way home about some of the houses and farms associated with Shakespeare that we visited when he and his sister were little. We decided it was about time we visited them again so hopefully later in the year there will be more posts on Stratford.

A Walk Round a Botanical Garden

I was on family chauffeuring "duties" on Tuesday afternoon and had a spare couple of hours so to while away time I decided to visit Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston. I haven't been since we took D and E when they were small. The site covers 15 acres and was founded in 1829.

There were lots of Spring flowers blooming in the gardens - daffodils, crocuses, primulas, camelias and rhodendron.

There is a part of the Gardens designed, I believe, mainly for children called The Kingdom of the Green Man. The area contains a playground and the Green Man's House Teulon Cottage surrounded by a lovely cottage and herb garden.

Nearby are the Historic Gardens featuring a Roman, Medieval and Tudor Garden. Unfortunately, the area was very shady so the only photo that really turned out was this one of a statue.

More colourful flowers as I wandered around.

The Rock Garden and Pool were very picturesque and the quietest part of the gardens.

The Growing Schools Garden formed part of the "Story of Horticulture" section

Aviaries

There are four glasshouses - Tropical, Sub-tropical, Mediterranean and Arid

There was an excellent collection of colourful foliage plants in the Mediterranean Glasshouse

The Sub-tropical house including a section on carnivorous plants

You can see the Japanese Garden through this window.

A small courtyard houses some trees from the National Bonsai Collection

There was a good selection of sculptures scattered throughout the gardens

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was determined to buy some Echinops plants for the garden this year to encourage pollinators and I was really pleased to find them on sale in the shop. I bought two :)