To Cold to Breed

On Tuesday night the wind was howling and rattling at the windows and doors. While I had been expecting for the wind to pick up and the temperature to drop, I was not expecting the wind to be gale force. As there was also rain forecast, I had expected that this could be a good night to look for the Toads and Frogs, but with the temperature at or bellow freezing combined with the wind, I realised that walking about in the forest at night in those conditions would be foolish. Therefore the cat had to let me have some of the bed back in the night.

Then on Wednesday there was snow. Not a great deal of snow but enough to remind us that winter has still not released its hold on the landscape. Last night I did venture out to see if the toads were on the move, but with frost on the ground they were not around. I did hear a couple of Tawny Owls but every time I went looking for where they were perching, they appeared to fly off and start calling from different trees. Had I not known better I could have been fooled into thinking that there were five or six owls in the area.

I headed home and wrote up my notes; it is one of the reasons why I kept this old laptop as I can use it to write up my notes and observations anywhere in the house. Although I need to replace the battery as it no longer holds a charge. At least this computer doesn’t suffer from mercury being retrograde.

When I was returning from getting my magazines today, I saw my neighbour. She told me that this morning she had found a newly fledged bird that was just sitting on the ground unmoving. She picked it up and took it in to the house. There she and her husband put it in a container and placing by a radiator allowed it to warm up. Eventually, it took to the wing and perched on the curtain rail. Then finally they let it fly out of the door.

I would have loved to have seen it myself but it shows that people do care about the wildlife here, although they are rather selective and he chases off the Jackdaws. However, they really delight in seeing and interacting with the natural history. As do I.

As the temperature was not conducive to the amphibians following their ancient tracks to reach the breeding ponds, I decided to stay in tonight. Not a difficult choice to make, as I am sure that most people would choose a warm cat over a cold wind. Talking about cats, I was right as trouble has worked out the sound of me opening up her medication and went running half away. But by playing it cool she soon returned to the hot seat and while she did resist a bit again I got her to take the medication. Although she looked at me as if to say you wont get away with that trick again.