General Chat

Brilliant programme, Brian, thanks for the reminder. :-) Joy

Springwatch returns tonight on BBC2, from 8.00 to 9.00. Every night for the next three weeks at the same time. Bill Oddie and Kate Humble are the presenters. Watch it! Brian, ;<O

Dredged up last month's Springwatch thread as you see. How are you all getting along? Or have you forgotten all about it? Saw a swift today (and, of course, recorded it), that's what prompted me to find the thread. I still have my suspicions about my randy frogs...didn't know whether or not they were firing blanks...there aren't any tadpoles, so have to assume the worst!! Brian, ;~O

Hi Hevi, Probably still a bit too early for the other species we are asked to report when sighted, although there may be the odd Peacock Butterfly flitting around, hither and thither. As I mentioned on another thread, if you see a mass of white blossom in hedgerows it will probably be Blackthorn not Hawthorn. The Blackthorn leaf is a bit like this shape (), whereas the Hawthorn leaf is more shapely (very roughly speaking, like the Maple leaf). If you/your daughter haven't recorded those sightings yet you can find how to by going onto the above website, and telling uncle Bill Oddie all about it! Brian, ;-x ) PS. Frogs don't count....only the spawn.

there was a bumble bee (twas huge) in my hall last saturday daughter had a ladybird on her arm on Sunday not seen any of the others although have seena few frogs when we reclaimed our front garden after the winter Hevi

Nudge....

nudge

I've just recorded my first sighting of a peacock butterfly, has anyone else seen one yet? Heather

Hi Louise, That could be quite interesting; importing Welsh wild-life! Hope your daughter's spawn container has a tight-fitting lid. I dread to think what mess could occur should it slurp all over your car seats or carpet! YUK!! Brian, ;-x )

I hav,nt recorded it yet Brian,but will do it straight away i have the dates for the frogs sporn as i printed iff the sheet from the site . Val

The more the merrier, Val, Have you recorded your finds online yet? The beeb wants us to do so on bbc(.)co(.)uk/springwatch If you watch the repeat of Springwatch Launch this afternoon you'll see a graph of the progress of the observations so far, regionally. Brian, ;-X )

Hi Brian I am also doing the BBC Nature Watch,so far plenty of Frogs sporn in my pond and on Friday saw my first Bumblebee. Just waiting for the next thing which is the 7 spotted ladybird. I live in Kent. Val

Pass....lol

OK, Marly, Blame the school holidays.......you're obviously not old enough to have a Senior Moment! ;-x )

Marly, (me, nit-picking!), It was on on Friday not Thursday!! Yes, repeating tonite at 5.30. ;-x )

Hi Louise, Pop over to us during the weekend, we're not going far. Bring a jam jar or a bucket and you can have some of our spawn (and some active frogs, if you've somewhere to keep them!). Let us know what time you're coming and we'll put the kettle on. Brian, ;-x )

Hi Brian Heard a blackbird singing his is heart out this morning. and there`s a couple of starlings in the house opposite taking a enough material in to build a three story nest. Does that mean a good spring and a dodgy summer? Keith

Thanx for that Marly, I remember reading about that spiteful little creature now; didn't know that is what it is called. Brian, ;-x )

It was the Spring Equinox yesterday, when daylight hours equalled night, from now on the daylight gets longer - yippee! Lily

Not totally on subject but we have a duck nesting in our old greenhouse. She hatched 2 batches of 12 ducklings in each last year but we haven't seen her since she left in July last year. Do they have long memories and return to the same place year after year? (By the way. Although she is a wild duck, who flys in over the roof tops to our high-fenced garden, she is white with a few distictive feathers, so I know it's the same one)