I should have written this post on Sunday 24th February. However we had a house full of guests and I forgot about it. On 23rd we had our first frogspawn of the year. Frogs had been very active in the pond in the preceding weeks (or at least when the pond was not frozen over)and the females (I presume) were looking very bloated.

On the 24th we took our Dutch guests for a walk on the Hampshire downs and while the plants higher up are behind those of our town we were seing signs of Spring. Firstly when we got out of our van, we saw 4 buzzards skydancing (courtship display). Buzzards usually soar in an extremely laid back way. However in the mating season they are positively vigorous, flapping hard to gain height then doing V-shaped dives to impress prospective partners.

Later we saw 3 roe deer and a red kite. At the summit we saw a kite again soaring below us on the edge of the scarp slope. In the woods the lords and ladies had already shot up leaves while the wild garlic was not yet visible.