Spring in our step

Its beginning to feel a lot like spring time.

The Song Thrush is back singing in the garden, the Great Spotted Woodpecker is drumming, the Siskins are singing and the crocus' are flowering.

This morning I spotted the first frog in the pond, which is a sign we need to do some clearing out of the grott in the water asap before they begin to spawn. They have sometimes appeared in January, but due to the unusually long period the pond spent under several inches of ice, they have arrived slightly later this year.

We walked over to Jez and Nicole's for breakfast, spotting Chudleigh's Peregrine on the way - the first one I've seen this year, and the first sighting I've had in Chudleigh for months. It was a bit of a splurge to have a fry-up, I know, but I had been good all week. I did, however, avoid biscuits with my coffee and distracted myself with baby and toys and a few games of curtain peekaboo.

A nice walk to try and put Maddy to sleep (and walk off the breakfast) took us round the lanes just outside Chudleigh, past Hams Barton and Kerswell, admiring all the properties and wishing we lived in them. We saw a Sparrowhawk soaring round, though it wasn't as good a view as yesterday at Stover when a male flew right past us and perched for a while in the open. We strolled up the hill past Watercress Farm trout fishery. Distant views of a Water Rail being chased by a Moorhen were unexpected, and the usual Little Grebe was still to be heard twittering away on the pools, though we could not see him.

Maddy's sleep was disturbed by having to cross the noisey A38, so she was picked up in the car and taken the rest of the way home. We continued our walk back round into Chudleigh, and I stopped off at mum's for a cuppa and a chat, filling in half of the Radio Times crossword before I left.

Dad educated us all the while about semi-improved grassland and phase 1 surveying, but I couldn't take any of it in as I was busy enjoying the sights! The sun was shining and the layers gradually came off and got hung over the buggy. Maddy didn't seem to mind as she was snug as a bug.

After a quick visit home, we went back to Jez and Nicole's to show dad and Sue's Seattle/Vancouver/Costa Rica photos and videos, but as I have seen them already I opted to watch Waybuloo and In the Night Garden with Maddy in the kitchen. She is so warm and cuddly I nearly fell asleep, she was so quiet and sitting so still I almost forgot she was there! She was pretty over-tired after not getting much of an afternoon nap, and with people around all day she'd been a very busy little bee, lots of playing to do. I think I was over-tired too, which is why my pyjamas are on and I'm sitting in bed to write this!