Spring has most definitely sprung at Brackenthwaite. After what seemed like a long, cold winter, it’s nice to see the sun in the sky and feel the warmth of its rays.
We’re not alone with our renewed sense of life and excitement either. We’ve welcomed in some new permanent residents to Brackenthwaite including Lucy and Juicy Goosey. Any day now the swallows will return from Africa where they’ve been holidaying since they left us last October.
It really is wonderful to see everything come back to life at this time of year. The doves are back to making babies – we even have one currently nesting in the hen house! Whatever works, I suppose. And there’s birdsong in the air from dawn until dusk. I also saw my first bee of the year earlier today. He seemed pleased with all the planting we’ve been doing recently – and rightly so, I might add!
Perhaps the greatest excitement came from finding two clumps of frogspawn laid in a shallow pool of water in one of our fields near where Leighton Beck flows. Under normal circumstances, I would leave it well alone but the chosen spot would soon dry out.
The frogspawn perish, so a plan was put into action where the frogspawn would be relocated to a newly created ‘safe space’ in Leighton Beck where the frogspawn could develop in relatively still water until they hatched and became free to roam as tadpoles.
I was also blessed to have the care of some very willing assistants on the day as you’ll see from the photos. Checking in on it as I have done today, and it looks like we’ve done a good job and are now the proud foster parents of a thousand tiny tadpoles!