As a mother, the sound of nothing instantly sets off alarm bells. It is not reassuring. There is a moment when you stop and listen and realise that it is not noisy enough. Hey oy. What is happening?
OK, quick head count. Right, the girls are looking under bushes for toads and frogs (back to that one in a moment) and TF, oh, he is walking up the garden with my rake, a bucket and the pan from his dust pan and brush set. He has a very determined face.
I’m distracted for a moment and when I look back…….
….I see him disappearing into an empty chicken ark. He is gone for a little while. Hang on, what’s he up to?
Then he reappears…..
….. with a pan of earth.
Hmm.
Unusual place to build an escape tunnel. Interesting, they haven’t tried that before.
By the time I make it up to the chicken ark, the bucket is half full of lovely soil.
The answer….
… a mole.
Obviously this is not the mole, as they are very camera shy. AJ made this one last year.
We have been plagued by real earth moving moles recently and it turns out that the mole found the inside of our deserted chicken ark particularily perfect for his mole hills. The floor of the ark was covered in the mole hills. TF had decided that this needed tidying, so he did. My blackcurrants are now benefitting from the fine earth. I have no idea when he discovered the mole hills nor why he decided that this was his job.
I think TF is going to be a handy chap to have around the place.
Back to the frogs and toads. We have noticed in the past week a lot of squashed frogs down our lane. I think the recent wet and warmer weather has got them on the move. Last night, when we came back from a family birthday party, we saw how many were out after dark along the lane. They were up our drive as well, so I had to clear it before the car could drive to the house. This morning, the girls decided to find them, with no luck.
They did rescue worms, snails and ladybirds from the area of the garden we were clearing, this afternoon. Also saw the bats and bumble bees for the first time this year. The wildlife is waking up and taking over again. It really must be spring.
