In the face of all this global misery the world keeps turning, the seasons come 
and go and we are entering one of the most magical times of the year. The dawn chorus has started – and there is nothing finer than to be woken up to the sweet song of a blackbird. Nest building will soon be in full sway. For me this is a truly uplifting time of year and one I always look forwards to with great anticipation.
As with so many others I have been self-isolating, except for one occasion when I walked
the lane to Upton and back. Imagine my surprise to encounter hundreds of Ashy Mining Bees along the bank between the pig farm entrance and Mousehall. My guess is that they had recently hatched out – within days they were appearing in our garden.
One of my Christmas presents was a Little Owl bird box. Now installed on the trunk of our Beech tree I await seeing what happens next. Another smaller box which has never attracted anything has been relocated on our Tulip tree. It took less than a day for it to be taken over by a pair of Blue Tits, the male now making it clear that this is his new territory. Both male and female Great Spotted Woodpeckers make daily visits to the nut feeder and you may have heard him drumming on trees all around the village. He is as regular as clockwork, arriving just before ten unless, that is, the squirrels have got there first. By the way, the male is the one with the red nape.
I was clearing out a wood stack the other day, when out popped a Common Toad.
I was asked by a friend how I knew it was a Toad and not a Frog. Well, two things really – as you can see 
from the photo, toads have a warty skin, whilst frogs are smooth. The other pointer is that toads prefer to walk, whilst frogs will leap around all over the place.
Whilst digging out one of my compost bins recently a Field Mouse emerged and gave me a 
hard stare. Now I have nothing against mice, unless they decide to come indoors when they will be dealt with in no uncertain terms. So, it was nice to be able to let it go on its way.
Paul Lister 841696
