Frog Blog!

"Come take a walk with me in the garden - and let's watch the pond very carefully..."

It's June, and we've had the first really warm couple of days for about a month. There's been so much rain that everything is growing like crazy, and now the sun is out, the garden is blooming. Blooming hard work!

Up in the tree is a goldfinch. There's been a pair of them chittering away in the tree all afternoon. Of course, I can't get near enough to take a decent photo with my little old digital camera, but they are very pretty birds.

By the pond is a very pretty lobelia. But in the pond itself, that's where the fun is! The water is peppered with duck weed and water skaters skim the surface and pause to battle and dive.

I hear they bite, but I've never had occasion to be nipped by one of them. They are so small! Could they really? Well, they do get quite violent with each other (is that territorial or mating? I have no idea).

There's a cheeky little greenfinch who loves to sit on a wayward branch of next door's conifer. The picture is perfect! His form outlined perfectly against a clear blue sky. I creep up with my camera, listening to his 'tweeep'. I lift the camera and... he's away! Every time. Aha! But I do catch him, and this time I don't mind if he flies off quickly. I don't want him to 'bless' my washing.

There's a wonderful swath of nigella in one of the borders. Though they do tend to take over a little, I love them. 'Love in a mist' - what a charming name for such a delicate and complex flower.


There's one frog who is convinced I cannot see him. He is hiding in the foiliage at the back of the pond. One of the frogs has a blue throat. We have a family of frogs with blue throats, he's the first one I've seen this season: though he has a patterned back, unlike his relatives who were a greeny black.

I haven't been well the last few days, so sitting in my garden frog watching was very restful. I'm not a particular frog fan, but they are amusing and quite entrancing. The colours on their backs, the glistening of their bright eyes... oh, alright, perhaps I am a bit of a frog fan after all.