Arrivals in our Wildlife Garden

It’s been a fabulous February in the garden, with a profusion of snowdrops, the first celandine, anemones and crocuses. It’s been fascinating to watch the arrival of the crocuses, which noticeably flower in colour order: first the Parma-Violet purples, then the rubber-duck yellows, and finally the Royal deep purples. It’s reassuring on a sunny day like today to see so many bees milling around; honeybees, queen bumbles and some small solitary bees (pictured) were all seen in the garden. 

At the start of 2023, many of us may have had specific hopes for what the new year might bring. Quite honestly, I just wanted some frogspawn! Our wildlife pond is entering its 3rd year and we had some frogspawn for the first year. It would be wonderful to think some frogs from our ‘Class of 2020’ may have survived and make it back to spawn this year… we’ll find out in the next couple of weeks!

@PondDip on Twitter or Instagram is a site for reporting sightings of frogspawn across the UK, which is then compiled in an interactive map. It’s fascinating stuff for any data junkie or wildlife afficionado, currently showing a clear trend of frogspawn arriving in the west of the UK first and spreading in an easterly direction. The question is…why? At this time of year the land warms from SW to NE, with the warming effect of the gulf stream. 

Please do plot your frogspawn finds on PondDip, it will really help with the Citizen Science efforts to help protect and understand more about our native frogs.

Next month will see our activities in the wildlife garden really stepping up, with the sowing season beginning and the planning for the pollinator flower beds ready for the summer. Crocuses will make way for snakeshead fritillaries, bluebells and with any luck we may have some tadpoles to report back on!