Blow wells and signs of spring

A rare sight this - the ancient blow wells in our local town full to the brim. The anglo-saxon church in the background is on a small, circular enclosure and so the blow well was their source of water and is probably the main reason for the town's origional existence. Sad then that a combination of over-abstraction of ground water, but mostly a poorly-designed drainage system makes this an extremely rare sight.


Apparently once the domain of the mighty great-crested newt, I would guess they are now long-gone, as it is normally nothing but a puddle. Surely a prime candidate for some restoration work on such an important part of the town's history, but no doubt the town council will want to spend the money on planting primulas on the roundabout instead.



once the domain of dragons

Along the river bank, coltsfoot are unfolding their sunny faces to the skies. Spring is here.

Coltsfoot. The absolute lack of other flowers at this time magnifies their beauty.

Alien Invaders

While checking out a local drain for water voles I found this 50m stretch of water fern. The plant is from subtropical America and my book says "carpets still fresh water". This stuff would be a nightmare to get rid of if it got in the nearby clay pits SSSI's - probably impossible to get rid of completely and definitely expensive.




The latest alien to arrive

Judging from the crap people throw in the hedgerows here (it has the unfortunate luck of being next to the council tip - closed on wednesdays where upon people just dump it here instead), I guess someone just emptied their garden pond into the ditch. It's about time alien aquatics like this are simply banned from sale. People are just not responsible enough to be trusted, or maybe slap a tax on all sales of non-natives based on potential costs of erradication. I wonder what else is in there - snapping turtle perhaps?

Amphibian Invasion

Last year, the first spawn clump appeared in my pond. This year it appears that frogs have arrived in force. First appearance around March 8th, and today there are at least 3 females and 15 males, and quite possibly many more hiding in the hornwort.


male and female common frog in amplexus

Two clumps of spawn and around 3 females/males in amplexus, with several wrestling matches ongoing. The females in amplexus had not yet released their spawn and were moving around the pond alot. It could be that they are not happy with their current mate and are searching for one able to wrestle him off.






males waiting hopefully for a successful interception .....

Hopefully some tadpoles will reach metamorphosis this year, but predator numbers are also high in the pond, with several smooth newts present along with many dragonfly larvae, so on the face of it, the chances are not good. Maybe I'll just have to dig them another pond.



A healthy amphibian population with large breeding pond, areas of rough grass, meadow and hedgerow. Can a garden get any better than this?.