THE RAMBLINGS OF A STRUGGLING ARTIST ON LIFE WITH TWO TERRIERS, A PONY WITH ISSUES AND OTHER WILDLIFE AND BIRDS THAT CROSS OUR PATH

7 April 2013

LAMBS AND A FROZEN NEWT


Difficult not to use the word 'sweet' here because they really are......














It's been so been great to have some sunshine, especially as I'm in chauffeur and social secretary mode with Origami Boy and his friends over the holidays. Nothing worse than bored nine year old boys stuck inside trying to convince me that playing the computer game 'Minecraft' is a good idea. If any of you are familiar with this game, you will know that its expert players will have conversations that make you scrunch up your face in a mixture of incredulousness and a deep, weary sadness at what the world has come to. Origami Boy told me proudly this morning that yesterday he had: 

"crafted a pair of diamond boots, three iron swords, a pair of gold leggings and a leather cap"

I tried to stifle a snorting kind of laugh, only to be asked what was funny. I changed the subject swiftly. He is VERY limited in the time allowed and never near bed time but it still worries me how totally engrossed he is with something so mindless. 

Anyway, enough of computer games....here are some birds....



Dunnock


Robin


Female Chaffinch


Great Tit

I took these next two one morning and it really does look like spring with the sunshine, but there is still no grass growing and Trigger has lost some weight. I'm still giving him hard feed in the morning and hay at night but the lack of grass is having an impact.



This is the strange puddle mud formation at the halfway stage where some of the water has evaporated away so you can see better what it's like:


Over the past week, every place where the frogs and toads had spawned has dried out. Everything but the stuff we moved to deep water has perished as had this newt we found in the tuppaware box we buried last year for our tadpole rescue. It had frozen. So sad. At least the spawn we moved have a chance but, by now, the big puddles are usually alive with wriggling tadpoles. 


It's due to rain all next week so at least that might kick start some growth. Snippet strained a muscle in his armpit playing with a Labrador friend yesterday so has been taking it easy today; something that doesn't come naturally to him. Until next time............here he is, basking in the sun covered in doggy stuff. 



22 comments:

  1. Totally in love with the baby lambs! What wonderful photos of them!

    Your bird photos are just great~clear and so full of detail.

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  2. Great photos and I love the Dalmation lamb! Tell Snippet that armpit strains are infinitely preferable to groin strains - if you're a Rugby player than is!

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  3. Those lambs really are so sweet!

    I've had a robin keep me company in the garden all day today, even though both of us were freezing cold! It must have eaten its bodyweight in the worms I dug up. Where do they put them all??

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  4. I love this time of year with all the lamb photos like yours, there is just something so precious and innocent about them.

    Spring arrived for us this weekend, and I'm hoping it brings a little bit of rain for us as well.

    I hope Snippet feels better!! :-)

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  5. Gail - The bird photos are taken form about six feet away through the window on full zoom, otherwise they wouldn't be so good!

    BB - Snip is a lot better today but still not as mad as usual.

    Rusty D - I wonder the same as the birds wolf down their porridge. I suppose all that flying takes a lot of worm energy.

    Kim - We have rain! I may be wishing I could give it to you in a few days time given the forecast....

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  6. Beautiful photos :) The lambs are exceedingly cute!

    Such a shame about the frogspawn but relieved to hear some that you moved to deeper water is surviving (ignore the comment on my blog in reply to yours - it was typed before I read your posting and realised some was still alive :) )

    Sad news about the newt too - no sign of any yet in our pond but there again they always seem to appear after frogs.

    Hope Snippet's strain improves soon.

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  7. Snip is a lot better today - thank you. Animals recover so fast don't they?

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  8. What a shame about the newt. I haven't seen one for years and to find one frozen to death is very sad. Sorry to read of Snippet's mishap too but glad to read on your reply that he is improving.

    The bird photos are beautiful, I wish I could get closer to my garden visitors to capture all that detail. Lovely to see the lambs too. I went just five miles up the road yesterday in search of Violets in woodland and found the wood covered in around 35 centimetres of snow!!

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  9. It's really sad isn't it? I was thinking this morning that, by now, the Tormentil would usually be flowering like mad on the moor and I can't even find evidence of leaf growth yet. As for violets.....not a chance. At least we don't have the dreaded white stuff of which you speak any more!

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  11. The spotted ones are definitely the best. No black ones yet.....they're even better!

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  12. It's been one heck of a winter. Leaving all sorts of descriptive words out 'cause I'm sure the space allocated would not be enough and the language not the prettiest!
    FANTASTIC to see a little slowly coming to life again. You've captured the ewes and their babies beautifully and, like the others, love the shots of the birds.
    The rest of spring will follow shortly for sure :D I'm soooo looking forward to it!

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  13. Sorry you've had a bad winter too! When will it end? We now have rain and fog and cold. My bulbs are retreating back into the ground after a few days of sun and cold.

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  14. What wonderful spotty Dalmatian lambs, Em! So sorry about Snippet's muscle. And how sad about the poor newt, creatures I rarely see, alas. Keep warm!

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  15. Well apart from cute lambs and excellent photos of your bird visitors, all I can say about those terrible computer games that boys play, not only do they play them into adulthood, but your grandsons in the future will probably be doing the same!

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  16. Caroline - Snippet's muscle is already fully recovered without the expense of the vet thank goodness. I'm hoping to photograph a live newt soon!

    Thelma - let's hope it's a granddaughter; they don't seem to get so obsessive about these things! Long way to go before that though. The Minecraft people have a mode in which you can play it called 'creative' which makes it sound just fine.....IT ISN'T!

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  17. I must not comment at night I can't see the screen..... mistakes all over

    here is my e-mail
    angryparsnip at g mail dot com

    cheers, parsnip

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  18. I am always amazed that lambs which are so very sweet turn into sheep which are often, with the best will in the world, ugly! We have lost loads of frog spawn here too. I am pinning my hopes on a wet area down in the bottom of the valley but haven't got there yet to check.

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  19. Parsnip - thank you.

    Elizabeth - Often rather ugly round the bum area!

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  20. Those lambs are adorable! And where you live... the landscape is just breathtaking. Do you ever see pixies?

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  21. Those lambs are adorable! And where you live... the landscape is just breathtaking. Do you ever see pixies?

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  22. I can't say I have Sonia....no!

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