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The first frogs of the year, probably males, which usually arrive just before the females, ducked below the surface of the Great Garden pond as I approached it on the 22nd of February. A week later, there is, as yet, no frogspawn to be seen but the surface of the water 'boils' as the pond is approached and dozens of frogs dive for cover. Last year, I counted, on one occasion, over seventy pairs or individuals, indicating the presence of over 100 frogs. The date of arrival of the first frogs is always interesting, especially as the Ackworth frogs are usually almost a month behind those in my own pond, only two miles from Ackworth, which are normally seen during the last week of January or the first week of February. Those in my pond produced the first frogspawn on the 6th of February but the ones in Great Garden have yet to produce any. |
One
of the most useful plants that grows around the grounds
is ivy. As well as providing welcome cover for many birds
and insects, it also provides sources of food when others
are no longer available. The flowers are amongst the last
to provide nectar for bees and other insects towards the
end of the year and often attract large numbers of
foraging honeybees and wasps late in November. There are
often so many of these feeding on the flowers at one time
that it is the combined sound of many sets of wings that
first draws attention to them. Older specimens of ivy
often carry a heavy load of berries, which are green for
most of the winter and become fully ripe about now, when
they turn black. They may not be as brightly coloured and
inviting as many other types of berry but they are
popular with the birds. A common sight at Ackworth in the
spring is of flocks of starlings feeding on the berries
of a section of old ivy which
grows on a low wall near the music
centre. There have been occasions in the past when the
starlings have stripped this ivy of its fruit in only a
day or two. Blackbirds can often be seen swallowing the
berries whole.