Random Ramblings

Random Ramblings: Personal observations on a wide variety of subjects. Photographs of creatures and things that are taken on seeing the unusual as well as everyday things.

Happy St George’s Day to one and all!

The St George Anthem

Red is our rose,
Red is our blood,
Proud is our Nation;
Wise and so good.
Our flag it is white;
It's cross dipped in blood.
St George is our patron -
And we are his brood.

Today, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. It is Spring. The blossoms are beginning to wave their skirts in the hedgerows and blooms are now appearing on my plum trees!

Happy St George’s Day to you all – may you all have a wonderful day.

A simple St George’s blessing: “May your weather be mild and fair; your day be long and productive; your health good and your happiness be never ending!”

St George flag The flag of England – St George’s Cross

Pearls of the pond

Our first batch of frogspawn ‘pearls of the pond’ was laid on 13th March this year which must be at least seven whole days later than our first clump last year. The second lay of spawn appeared during the first week of April.

Tiny tadpoles are wriggling over their jelly homes from the first of the nurseries. None of the second lay have yet broken out of their eggs.

I wonder how long it will take before they begin to grow their little ‘frog’ legs?

 

Tadpole fun

Happy hedgehog

At last the hedgehogs have been able to leave their hibernation as the temperature has reached 5°C at night.

I prepared a miniature banquet for these wonderful prickly creatures of: cat kibble, some of the cat’s dinner, some cheddar cheese crumbs, pork dripping placed in a half coconut shell and various broken nut pieces. However, the first hedgehog on the scene had something other than eating on his mind as he approached his little buffet his shiny little black nose wobbled up and down and as he took in the various smells a most enormous black motion came out of his back passage. Obviously, he was making room for his very first meal of the year!

 

hedgehog hedgehog

Life from the most smallest to the largest recorded

I often feel uncomfortable with sharing finds from other websites. Some for reasons I cannot understand close themselves down, some change their content on the page that is linked to and some are hacked and end up with disagreeable content.

On this occasion I came across a most wonderful website that displays by means of a slider, all known life and creation from the smallest invisible speck to the largest of the known galaxies. This is an experience that everyone should witness and enjoy.

Here is the link (there is sometimes an advert to begin with) using your mouse click onto the START button then at the bottom of the page you will see a slider run this backwards and forwards several times and be totally mesmerised.

 

Click here to enjoy the view.

 

Small universe

 

 

To enjoy more from the above website that produced the above ‘slider’ here is their link: http://htwins.net/

What a crazy day!

It is Spring, the clocks have just been put forward an hour into British Summertime and the weather is oh so very, very cold. As it is now April the temperatures should have at least reached double figures, not the miserable 1° to 2°C. It isn’t just the cold it is the fact that little mammals that should be waking up and feeding only do so when the weather is above 5°C all during the night … so there is still no sign of hedgehogs, bats, or other little creatures. Added to this, by now it is usual to see a few butterflies and bees, both of which also appear to be missing from the landscape.

Peacock