Tuesday 30th March 2021

And first of all, Polywog news:

And to remind first time readers, polywogs is the scientific name, or something, given to tadpoles.

Well, we has tadpoles, and they hatched from spawn a couple of weeks ago, and now we have a pond full if tiny wrigglers.

They are not frog tadpoles, nor are they toad tadpoles, they are newt tadpoles, and some have now broken free of their nursaries, and are exploring the big pond, but many return to the wriggling mass that is where most of their siblings still are.

None, so far, have developed leggs, either front or back. If they develop front legs first they are newts, back first then they are either frogs or toads.

Anyway, last night when Jools came home, she was doing some gardning as my legs are still achy, she shouted to come and have a look. So I went and had a look, and in the smaller pond, not the ones with the tadpoles, were at least three adult newts.

I guess three to four inches long, four legs, tail, the usual for newts. All under water and they have propably been there for months, if not years, having made their home under the broken crocks we have placed at the bottom of that pond.

So, all good news.

But that was the end of the day, what happened before that?

Well, and you will not be surprised to learn, that after my ten miler on Monday, my legs were sore. Not as bad as Monday, but still stiff. So I asked Jools to drop me off at the monument on her way to work, and I would walk home.

I had to be home by midday as I was expecting a man about a roof.

News on that later.

So, after coffee, and Jools did more work in the garden, she dropped me off right beside the monument, leaving me with the easy task, I thought, of walking down to Kingsdown before I turned inland.

THe sun had been up about an hour, and its light was still pale pink, not bright yellow, so the cliffs reflected back that colour. And I found two small Early Spider rosettes in the short grass too. None out.

I sat on the bench for a good twenty minutes, just taking in the scene of the still air, the sea that reflected the cloudless sky, and my ears were filled with the sound of dozens of skylarks.

All pretty good.

I walked down the path, sticking close to the cliffs for a while, but then striking inland beside the fence that marks the edge of the reserve, and down to the path that skirts the very edge of St Margaret's parish.

I should have taken the path up to Barrow Mount, but there was a rare plant I wanted to check on, so took the narrow path between two five acre fields, through three tunnels of Maythorn, back to the track we usually take to the monument.

There had been a lot of machinery up and down the track, and a few tons of manure dumped too, in short no sign of the Dense-flowered Fumitories I had spotted the last two years, but they could still show.

I was now at the top of the down, and looking away left I could just see our house, the other side of the Dip, just a short walk away.

Down the track to the Dip, dry by muddy under a hard crust, I slip a couple of times, then make my way through the ruts at the bottom and up the other side to Fleet House, having seen no butterflies out at all.

From there it was a short walk back over the fields to home, where I treat myself to a coffee, followed by breakfast and a review of my shots.

And that is it, really.

My legs still ached, though not so bad. Once up and about, I was fine, but after sitting, not so good.

I read, watched Only Connect final, and did some editing. And somehow the day slipped through my fingers.

I should have gone for a walk with Jools when she came home, but really didn't feel like it, so she did some gardening (and saw the newts) while I prepared the aubergines.

Yes, they are in season once again.

I fry them up. We eat them. We wash up, make coffee and find that darkess has falled already.

I write the blog for the day, follow football until nine, and found I was tired once again.