IDA IS ISAAC AND A RESCUED FROG

Oh dear.....I was so sure. Not a peep of any maleness when I've seen her/him before, but yesterday morning I was in for a shock as....er......Isaac had a dangly wee right in front of me.  I won't sully proceedings by showing you a photograph of the event, but the next one leaves no room for doubt. Where did that come from? It's lucky I'm not a vet really. Hopeless.

Clearing the garden of general detritus today, some still left from last year's dry rot nightmare, we found this frog in the watery bottom of a Land Rover tyre. It was very lethargic and made no attempt to escape, so we put it under a rotting stump, close to the tuppaware bowl we sunk into the ground for tadpoles and away from the little canine assassin in the hope that it will recover. I'm not absolutely sure what it is; Common or Marsh. It looks more like a Marsh frog with the eye ring and colour, but I'm not prepared to make yet another mistake! Any help here appreciated. 

This morning, Foal A was particularly frisky.....again. Look at him here; his mother was not amused. 

Another rescue today: a bee in the middle of the road, back legs so heavy with pollen that it couldn't take off. I put it on the verge and it was gone by the time I walked home.

The view towards Cosdon Beacon:

Snippet looking towards home....sort of. Actually, he was looking at Foal A to his left; worried about another confrontation.

This is the shelter belt that protects our tiny hamlet from the South Westerly winds:

Trigger thinking I had arrived with food today - I hadn't:

Sparrow in the hydrangea. No shoots on it yet.

Nuthatch bum:

And feeding. I have to admit to cursing them recently as they wake me up at 5.30am with their Guinea Pig-like call.

Great Tit:

Magpie:

I can't believe the weekend is already over. Snippet is lying, wet from a rainy evening walk, in front of the fire, as dogs should. Am idly watching the Antiques Roadshow while writing this and waiting for the final REALLY expensive item. Until next time, here's Snippet, about to take off at speed after something or other. 

OLD FRIENDS AND WEIRD SKIES

Last Sunday, my oldest friend and her family came to stay. The evening they arrived, we all went for a short walk after supper. The skies were amazing. I’ve talked about us living in a cloud before, but usually we just sit in a big grey mass of it. This time, the edges and individual wisps and sections were very obvious. It was slightly drizzly, creating another of those rainstumps, this time very dramatic over the rocks. Here are the pictures I took which give a pretty good idea of what it was like. I rarely get out in the evening, so it was lovely to observe the difference in light.

Betty and Lizzy were hanging around that evening with a grey gelding who was acting very proprietarily. Betty seemed happy to have him around and, in the mood for anthropomorphism, I thought they looked like a lovely family group. 

One thing that has been really lovely about writing this blog is the notice I’ve been taking of the moorland flora. I think I only thought there a few flowers out there before, but having spent a lot of time scrutinising the ground, I’ve been amazed at their numbers. Everything is miniature or stunted in height, somewhere between normal and alpine I suppose. 

Mouse-ear

Red Clover

Hawkbit seed-head

In the disastrous vegetable patch, we decided to leave a couple of last years leeks to go to seed so we could sow them next year. I’ve been waiting and waiting for them to flower and they are spectacular; about six feet tall and such a lovely subtle colour. The bees are enjoying them too!

Trigger’s eye is healing well thank goodness. The bad weather came just in time for him in terms of the reduction in fly numbers. He’s looking good and the split in his hoof is pretty much gone after Tuesday’s trimming. 

Here are some pictures of:

SNIPPET’S WEEK

Blurred fun...

Completely uninterested in the ponies

Rodent hunting....

Shattered

And a few things I’ve seen over the week too:

More strange clouds

That lone hawthorn again from two different angles

A sparrow-hawk out the back from rather a distance I'm afraid - Sorry!

A drinker moth I think. Bit difficult to tell to be honest!

Again, rather difficult, but a common green grasshopper is what it most looks like.

Sorry to sully proceedings but I thought these dung fungae were rather beautiful 

These three are part of the herd I had the magical experience with some weeks ago. The middle one is the one who let me scratch and stroke him. Out of their own patch, they were far more wary

I may not manage to post before we go to London next week but I’ll make sure I take the camera. We’re staying with friends who live near the Olympic park so we’re going to try and have a look round. Origami boy wants to go on the London Eye so, as the person who doesn’t suffer as badly with vertigo, I’m the one having to accompany him. I grew up in London, only coming here ten years ago, and I only really look forward to viewing it through my son’s young, Devon-born eyes. His life is SO rural, it must be incredibly exciting for him. So, till next time and hoping Olympic cold turkey isn’t too painful!