The Embrace

I was amazed that mutt managed to miss them! The canoodling couple sat right on our back doorstep as we were leaving to go for our daily walk yesterday. Usually she is the first to poke her nose into this type of business, instead it was me forcing them to look at their reflection in the lens of the little G12.

Whilst Mrs frog appeared to be taking the defensive 'no photographs' pose, Mr frog sported a silly smirk and had a cheeky glint in his eye. Hugging her waist tightly, the two eventually started to hop off towards the back garden. They were to be the lucky ones as the evidence of the past few days had shown that several similar puffed-up amorous couples had lost their fight with the indiscriminate puffed-up rubber in the little lane at the front.

As I watched, I was intrigued to know which one of the pair was putting in all the effort to hop whilst locked in this embrace. Clearly it was the female doing all the hard work although the male obliged with a token leg-kick gesture in sync with her efforts. They progressed along the path making towards the garden gate. Hop-kick, hop-kick, hop-kick-duffff!

 

Her hop had timed perfectly with reaching the bottom of the gate and I can't help feeling it was her pay-back to this free-loader. After a moment of recomposure, she walked a couple of clearance steps before once again hopping off to the safety of the garden.

Firsts

Each year, I note my firsts as a marker for seasonal progress.

24 February     first brimstone butterfly
14 March         first frog spawn in our pond
17 March         first chiff chaff
  3 April            first glimmer of bluebells in the woods

Some have been early, some have been late, some have been about right.

Now I'm waiting for the

first cuckoo
first swift...

but I'm not hurrying the year on, just enjoying the wonders of nature.

Noisy Neighbours

Is it any wonder he has such a smug look on his face after his rather noisy Spring activity?