Wildlife Watchers - Part 2

Remember these little guys?

The boys didn't lose their interest in them at all and every couple of days they were checking to see what stage they were at.

I must admit that I had begun to think that they might never get past the stage of having fat bodies but very little legs and a big tail. It seemed they were stuck like that for ages.

But yesterday there was great excitement when we went to check on them and saw this swimming across the top of the water....

...and this one......

...and about 7 others. 

We watched them try and make their way out of the pond for a while and then noticed that some of their siblings had already made their way out and were beginning to move away from the pond!

Today we can't see any more left but it's so exciting to think that they are successfully off on the next stage of their life cycles.

And remember the nesting box? Well, I didn't get any photos of the occupants because frankly I'm just not patient enough to sit with a camera to catch a shot of the little birds rushing in and out of it, but we did hear plenty of the baby birds!

About a month ago we noticed the two bluetits were flying in and out of the box almost constantly. Calum stood with his ear to the box and discovered you could hear a faint cheep cheeping coming from inside. After about a week we could hear the cheeping without being right by the box and then a few days later we could hear it from the other side of the garden! We could always tell when one of the parent birds had gone in as the cheeping got much louder as the little ones demanded their food - hmmm, sounds a bit familiar!

Like the frogs, the bluetits have also moved on to the next stage of their lives now but it was certainly a very successful Spring for the wildlife watchers in this house!

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Wildlife watchers

A few weeks ago the boys and daddy came home from a Sunday afternoon walk with a jam jar containing a little bit of frogspawn.

 

The sand pit was still waiting for some decent weather to let us give it it's annual spring clean, followed by some nice new sand for the summer, and so since it was sitting empty it was decided to fill it with water and turn it into a pond for the frogspawn, until they grow up anyway!

 

The boys kept an eager eye on the eggs and were very excited to see them hatch into tiny tadpoles after about 10 days.

 

The tiny tadpoles are now bigger tadpoles but still have no sign of the little legs growing on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alasdair (3) decided to put that boat in the top left of the 'pond' in for the tadpoles because he thought they might like it. Turns out that they do actually quite like it as we often find them gathering underneath it!

 

 

 

It's funny to see how mesmerised they can all be just watching the tadpoles swim around. James (13) had a friend round today and they both sat with the other boys watching for a while!

 

 

Calum (10) has always been our biggest wildlife/animal fan. Today he decided to start keeping a journal of wildlife he sees throughout the summer.

 

He has divided his journal into three sections: what he sees in our garden; what he sees when we go back to Lewis in the summer; and what he sees anywhere else.

 

He made a start on the garden section today. As well as writing about the tadpoles, he has been keeping an eye on some Blue Tits. In the photo above, if you look at the shed at the back of the photo you can just make out a nesting box on the top left corner. About 6 weeks ago we were in the kitchen when we saw some Blue Tits flying in and out of it. We also noticed one of the birds sitting on top of a tennis ball on the grass. We realised that the tennis ball was burst (thanks to Auntie Anna's dog!) and that the bird was taking bits of the stuffing out and then taking it into the nesting box.

 

The birds are still flying in and out of the box, and although we can't see inside it, Calum has been researching in some of his bird spotting books where he learned that Blue Tits usually lay their eggs in April and May.

 

 

Will keep you posted about whether we see any baby birds!

 

As for the tadpoles, well Alasdair keeps telling people they are going to hop into our house when they turn into frogs!

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