Tuesday 6 April 2010

Firsts for 2010

Spring is well on its way and every day we see species that we hadn't previously seen in 2010.

Our first small frog of the year hopped into a hole shortly after Ian had finished digging:


I found my first dragonfly larva (a broad-bodied chaser) of the year in the pond a couple of days ago. Of course it (and hopefully several others) was in the pond all winter, but I'd failed to find any on previous dips this year. I wonder if my finding it this time was due to a change in its behaviour (e.g., the depth it chose to occupy) or to my simply being able to stand the water temperature for longer than earlier in the year!


I fished my first ladybird of the year out of the pond and was pleased to find it both still alive and also a new species for Frog End - the 4-spot pine ladybird (also found to feed upon insects on Ash trees, there being one only a few meters from the pond):


Today a pair of peacock butterflies were sunning themselves on one of the paths