Primroses, badgers and frogs

Spring is definitely here though the weather is still cold and wet. But the flowers are opening and warming the heart. My favourites are primroses. They grow in the banks of our hedgerows. The first ones we saw were on the 14th February, but these were a bit battered by the hail showers we’ve been having. The ones below were photographed on the 19th February and are in a bank below some lovely old, wizened hawthorns on the edge of our hill field.

Primrose

In the garden, the crocuses are opening and today our first daffodil opened fully.

Crocus

In the polytunnel, we have planted our early potato crop – the variety is Charlotte and we can usually harvest them in May. They will be small but delicious! The second lot of broad beans I sowed (the first ones were eaten by a mouse!) have germinate and are just starting to grow. I’ve leave them in pots for a couple of more weeks before planting into the tunnel. In the greenhouse, I’ve sown some radish and early lettuce, a few kohlrabi and early cabbages in seed trays. We’ll see how they all go.

 

In the wood things are moving too. I spotted these badger prints a couple of weeks ago. Badgers don’t live in the wood but every so often we will find footprints on the muddy bits of the track, where they have been passing through.

Badger prints

And a sure sign of spring – the frogs have returned to spawn in the drain below the chicken field. It is always the first place they spawn. They will return to the pond in the next few days. It will be interesting to see if they will use the new pond, which lies between the drain and the existing garden pond. The photo isn’t great. I haven’t been able to sneak up on the frogs yet – without them all diasppearing under the surface of the water – but the picture will give you an idea of the amout of spawn. Each clump of spawn represents what one female has produced. There are about 50 clumps – that is 50 female frogs. And for every female frog there will be a male mating with her – that is 100 frogs in this little bit of drain. It’s pretty impressive!

Frog Spawn