Frogs on the Move

Have you noticed any squashed frogs on the road recently? They hibernate in the winter, males often at the bottom of ponds in the mud and females in a cosy muddy ditch. Once the weather warms up in the spring they make their way back to the pond and this when they risk getting squashed by traffic as they make their way across roads to find a suitable pond in which to meet a mate and lay eggs,

Frog on migration  back to a pond or water source

Last night, as I walked home via Underway, I saw a frog poised above a drain cover. After a day of rain the water was rushing through the culvert below and I imagine the frog must have thought it was a good place to seek water. 

Then today, whilst in Underway Meade, I saw two lots of frog spawn in the pond. This is a good sign as frogs have been declining in recent years, with lack of habitat and use of pesticides all taking their toll.

In case you wondered, the difference between frog and toad spawn is that frogs lay clumps of eggs in a jelly like mass and toads lay strings of eggs.


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Frog spawn in Underway Meade pond

Let's hope we see some tadpoles develop in due course!

Loss of an iconic tree

Combe St. Nicholas has always been proud of the two Copper Beeches, which have graced The Lawns in the centre of the village for probably 150+ years. This view, with the dark tree on the right of the picture,  taken from the top of the church tower, is the one on the left side of The Lawns, in full leaf a few years ago.

Last autumn villagers in Combe became aware that this iconic tree on the Lawns had, almost overnight it seemed, been surrounded by a fungi, which turned out to be Meripilus giganteus, a kind that rots the tree roots and would ultimately result in the destruction of the tree. Professional advice was sought and sadly the decision was taken to fell the tree as the extent of the internal damage could have meant the tree could fall down without warning, especially if there were high winds, and cause injury to someone.





The tree, without its leaves still towered over the surrounding buildings when the tree surgeons arrived at the end of January to carry out its felling and removal. The work took about 3 days to fell and clear away the debris ( helped by people turning up with vans, trucks and trailers and helping themselves to the wood for burning).

Work started with removing the lower branches, then the top branches and it was such a sad sight when the main trunk, finally came down!

Stump is all that remains

Now we are left with just the stump and we won't know till next autumn if the remaining Copper beech on The Lawns has also been attacked by the same fungus. If so, it will mean the tree surgeons will have to return to deal with it. Let's hope not!

Unexpected visitors

Here are a number of sightings I have noted over the last few weeks which have been more unusual and whilst not unheard of, may be of interest.

Whilst walking back from Chard via the lanes earlier in the month I glanced into a field and saw 40+ Lapwing, along with a few Black-headed gulls. The weather was cold and bright but had been frosty in the morning and the field was being warmed by the sun so the birds were taking advantage of the conditions and were feeding hungrily on any worms etc that they could prise out of the ground. Every now and again a gull would harry one of the Lapwings and the flock would take to the air, flapping with their distinctively rounded wings, before settling again and continuing to feed. A lovely sight and not one we get very often round here, though once they would have been a regular visitor to farmland. I have seen small flocks of Lapwing passing through overhead occasionally but they are more often found on marshy areas such as on the Somerset Levels where some of the highest UK concentrations are to be found in the winter months.

On another cold but bright morning I saw two foxes out in the open in a field near Combe Wood Lane, copulating . They were some distance off but clearly "locked together" and remained so for a considerable time, seemingly oblivious to anything else about.  

Fox in the garden

Last week there was another fox in the open, this time in our garden sunning itself under the bird feeders. Grabbing the camera my husband got time to take one picture as it walked away and we quickly warned our neighbour to watch out for it as they keep chickens. It seemed to have an injured leg as it limped and may not have been able to catch much even if it tried.

Black swan  at Chew Valley Lake

Last weekend we had a trip to Chew Valley Lake, a reservoir near Shepton Mallet which is well known for visiting winter wildfowl and various rarities. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious, making waves on the water seem like you were at the coast. We had hoped to see a Great northern diver which had arrived a few days before, somewhat off course from its normal coastal environment! The weather was against us though and we had to content ourselves with a view of this somewhat unexpected Black Swan!

Finally, as I sat down to type up this blog post, I was somewhat surprised to glance out of the window and see that it was snowing heavily, though thankfully it didn't settle, such weather was an unexpected visitor that was definitely not welcome!

Owls are hooting!

The birds must know it has just been Valentine's Day. The Tawny owls have been calling to each other in the evenings, ( NB. a Tawny Owl never calls "twit twoo". In fact the "twit" or more accurately "ke-wick" is a Tawny Owl's contact call and the "twoo" or again more accurately "hoo-hoo-oooo" is the male's territorial call. Consequently, if you hear "ke-wick hoo-hoo-oooo" it is most likely a male answering a female (or another male*). Both can be heard in the recording on the Garden Birds site here http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/tawnyowl.htm.)  

Blue tits have also been continuing to  inspecting the nest boxes in SSW.

There are more birds singing this week, such as the Dunnock which, whilst quite drab in appearance, has a beautiful song when vying for a mate.


I havealso heard even more Song thrushes around the village singing this week too, which is always a welcome sound as, apart from the lovely song, their numbers are sadly still declining.


With 2 days in a  row of frosty, clear nights followed by lovely sunshine I have also been pleased to see both Peacock and Tortoiseshell butterflies on the wing, as well as a huge Bumble bee.



The Tortoiseshell and bee were both taking advantage of the flowering heather in my mum's garden, but unfortunately were too quick to get a photo of. Let's hope they manage to survive if the weather gets wet or colder again.
Fingers crossed for more sun as the evenings slowly begin to draw out!

* Thanks to the "British Garden Bird" site for this helpful explanation

Signs of Spring?

Here are a few more sightings over the last week or so to make you feel that Spring may be around the corner.

I can't be certain but this ewe looks like she may have triplets as all three lambs stayed close by her as I passed by on a walk near Combe Wood Lane. I read of one ewe recently that had five lambs, quite unusual I would think?

Watch out for roe deer in the fields now. I saw this one near Betham, but there are at least two in the Woolhayes area.
The bucks are already sprouting their velvet covered antlers and the does will have their fawns in May / June

 Another bird  which likes to find a high perch to sing from (like the wren in the previous post)  is the Song Thrush. I have heard them singing already this month, with their loud repeated phrases, so keep your ears peeled.

Despite the cold weather recently a number of daffodils are already out, including these in Sunday School Wood, which I noticed earlier this week. Roll on Spring!

New Year resolution

In case you wondered why I uploaded a post about summer and autumn yesterday, I can confess that I made a resolution to try and do at least one blog post per month this year and realised I still  had a post in draft form from last year, so thought I'd publish it and then start afresh.

Now I am just in time to catch the end of the first month and keep my resolution going, so, here are some of my latest sightings!

Snowdrops have been out since at least the first week of January and although they are not perhaps as prolific as last year, they still make a welcome sight in the gloom of the depths of winter. I was particularly pleased to see them in Underway Meade, where some of you may know I am now involved in its future upkeep. (A separate blog post on the Meade will be uploaded soon.)






We have been doing some pruning of a small goat willow tree in the garden recently and I stacked the branches by the fence. It seems "Onky Donkey", in the neighbouring paddock, has a liking for the bark which he has stripped off every branch in a very efficient manner! Apparently it contains salicylic acid, the active component of willow extract which is used to make Aspirin, so perhaps he was self medicating!

Even though we still feel as though we are in the depths of winter with a very chilly wind blowing over the last few days the birds are already thinking about pairing up. The blue tits have been prospecting the bird boxes and the males of many species, including this lovely wren, find themselves a high perch to sing from and try to attract a mate. The rest of the time this one has been busy collecting spiders which have been dislodged when our windows and soffits were cleaned recently.

I did the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch last weekend but was a bit disappointed in how few birds visited in the hour I sat counting them. My usual Coal tit and Nuthatch remained elusive so, to cheer myself up on Monday I took myself for a walk around Nimmer. I was therefore delighted to see this chap, a Dipper, perched on a rock in the stream near the bridge next to the trout farm. A clever bird that lives by fast flowing streams and rivers and can swim underwater to catch its food of insect larvae and freshwater shrimps. Pity I don't have a stream in my garden so this bird is never likely to feature on my garden list either!

Summer progresses into autumn

The weeks in late May, June and July brought much hot sunny weather and the  local wildlife, including  insects and flowers seemed to flourish as a result.

Whilst weeding a border in my garden ( not something I do often enough!) I had to abruptly halt when I nearly speared this huge toad with my hand fork. A gardeners' friend, eating a diet of  slugs and snails, what an excellent excuse to stop for a cuppa! By the time I returned it had hopped off to find another shelter from the heat of the sun.

Toad in the undergrowth

Ringlet butterfly

Butterflies and moths  have seemed to do well this year too and I "captured" a few on film including the small tortoiseshell below which flew round the village hall one day in autumn looking for a warm spot to hibernate before alighting on the Shortmat bowls club's programme!

Small tortoiseshell