Nature in Langham

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Nature In
Langham
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At the time of
writing it is Easter and spring has
certainly sprung!
The garden is ablaze with
daffodils even though a few weeks ago they were
bowed down with snow.
Last weekend we decided
to replace our old fish pool with a larger one.
There was no need for us to stock it with fish
as it was home to newts, toads and frogs plus
an attraction for damsel and
dragonflies.
We wanted to make the
change before the breeding season
started.
We were on just in time
as the wild life soon took to the new pond and
the frog spawn appeared this week. Watching the
development of tadpoles to frogs has for us
never lost its childhood appeal.
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May 3rd 2011
The tadpoles that developed from Easter's
spawning are now very lively. They are losing their gills and
developing lungs, little heads are to be seen as they take
their firsts gulps of air.
The adult
frogs are very patient as the tadpoles nibble and climb over
them although occasionally we have seen a youngster sail
through the air as a result of being caught by a well aimed
foot.
We were very
pleased to note that we have a breeding pair of newts this
year, though realize that being carnivorous from the start the
offspring may well deplete the hundreds of tadpoles!
The other
pond in our garden although very small contains a large number
of both toads and frogs of varying sizes who are at present
enjoying today's heavy rainfall.
The Tawny's, both ours
and the visiting wild ones have been exceptionally verbal.
Minerva, having listened to a singing blackbird did her best to
imitate it by varying the pitch of the warbling sound she can
make! All three of our owls make no distinction between day or
night in their calling and have the wild ones responding during
daylight hours!
It is pleasing to see the return of the house sparrow, once
taken for granted because of it's great numbers has until
recently been absent.
Amongst the
feathered visitors to the garden we have jackdaws nesting in an
unused chimney, as they have been for many years. We have often
been advised to block this off but we rather enjoy having these
attractive birds here .One year Odin flew to the roof top just
as the Jackdaw family emerged from their nest , we don't
know who got the bigger surprise, but Odin never repeated the
experience!
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