Re: Spring walks

We have had a lovely day today so far. Last night we had a gorgeous beef and vegetable stew, all homemade, with pot barley too. Today we had a lazy morning as the clocks have sprung forward. Springy and I had our breakfast whilst watching Nigel Marven's Polar Bear Adventures and after seeing this we reckon that polar bears look very cuddly.

Our first main task was to go and look after our neighbour's guineapigs which was great fun. Springy was so happy because they have some baby guineapigs and she was able to hold and cuddle them. We watched them for quite a while - they are such fascinating little creatures. Then we came back to our house and let our guineapigs out in their run and gave them some cuddles too. After this (and having had lunch) we went to the big water and fed the ducks and swans. The dominant cob there came out and we handfed him. He had his fill of brown wholemeal and some wheat grain too and then set out to preen himself. He was using his oil gland on his rump to coat and clean his feathers and he looked so fluffy and babylike (very large baby!). It's lovely to see him because we've known him since he was a cygnet, although one is very aware that he requires a lot of respect.

After that we went for a walk in the woods. We visited the pond and found some frogspawn, although we saw a newt in amongst it so perhaps it is newtspawn. We saw lots and lots of pondsnails as well, which kept Springy fascinated. The bird song there was glorious and we also saw a goldcrest (tinier than a wren) - fairy birds:

http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/goldcrest.htm

In my opinion, it is so important for children and adults to go out into nature on a regular basis and find out about their local environment. Even in a city there are parks but we're lucky in that we live in a fairly rural area so we have a lot of choice as to where to go. We also have a garden which, although unpleasant in the winter (like a wind tunnel), is a delight in the spring, summer and autumn.