It’s around 12 degrees but feels colder because of the chilly wind. The sun comes in and out of the clouds. We have been donated a few tadpoles. Yesterday, they were together, more of less, so very visible. Today, they have dispersed and are hard to spot. Tadpoles don’t stay together. They have no collective sense. They are fishlike and all they are interested in, at this stage of their life cycle, is food. They eat plants, but as they develop become omnivores.
Why there has been a dearth of them in our pond this year is controversial. I think it’s cats, having seen the tabby cat digging in the mound at the back. But there’s no smoking gun. I haven’t seen a cat kill an adult frog. Something has though, as the shortage of tadpoles is down to a lack of breeding adults. They have been killed off in some way. The possibilities are drought, disease or predators. Drought can’t be ruled out, as we had a dry spell last summer. Nor can disease, either of the froglets or among the adults. Again a possibility. Predators in our garden are likely to be cats or foxes.
What can be done about it? Suppose it is predators, as I suggest. Well CatWatch deters cats. But we haven’t got any adult frogs, so that hardly helps. It’s the age old conundrum: ‘I wouldn’t start from here.’
The adults could come back. From other gardens, as they did originally. That’s pretty hit or miss, depending on luck. Where is the nearest pond? My suggestion is get CatWatch, which deters cats with a high pitched sound without harming them. They just don’t like it. If we get adults from elsewhere, it would keep them alive, if cats are the problem. I note a lot of ifs in that sentence, reflecting the doubt on the cause, and whether the remedy would work.
I planted the flax seeds, a few days ago, in the first of the three square beds near the small pergola. If I keep them watered, they should show in about week. The month so far has been dry and windy, which means we are having to water, and that dries out quickly in the breeze. Wildflower seeds are being planted today in the wildflower bed.
The white cherry tree is in full blossom, and the pink one is beginning to break out. There are a few days when they are in blossom together. And then the top of the garden becomes a mass of dropped blossom as if we have had a stream of April weddings. And then it’s gone. If it stays breezy, all the quicker.
The ukulele players are rehearsing this morning. A mixture of folk, blues and pop songs. I assume it is for our 10th anniversary celebration in June, but they were too busy playing for me to ask them.
Around the garden, there are lots of blooms. The spiraea is at it peak, a mass of tiny white flowers. We have blossom on the pear trees, lots of three cornered leek around the garden which makes me think of bluebells as they are alike. Although the former are alliums, and white, and smell quite garlicky. The kerria is flowering with its yellow bundles of flowers. It has flowered through much of the winter. A shrub that gives you its money’s worth. The euphorbia has gigantic clusters of green blossoms, bigger than usual. An odd colour for a flower, which makes me think the flower must have chlorophyll in its petals. Or the green has some other cause. I look it up and find out that, yes, they have chlorophyll, but the blooms are not true flowers but bracts, which are modified leaves. The bracts both protect the tiny flowers and attract insects as pollinators.
The walnut tree by the buddleia has a few male catkins. Some look like tiny bunches of grapes. Females come later. Leaves are developing too. Last year, we had about six developing walnuts. And then they all disappeared. I suspect squirrels had them.