Frog spawn, more catkins and a buzzard

This afternoon to Hinksey Heights Golf Club on the hill overlooking the village and Oxford, where one is free to walk past several ponds and through the woods. There turned out to be quite a lot to see! I went hoping to find frog spawn and was not disappointed: my friend Clive, a keen golfer and naturalist, had told me there was some to be seen in a pond on the golfcourse and indeed there was. Spawn is of course the fertilised eggs, fertlised by the male as they are laid. Each egg is surrounded by a blob of jelly which protects the developing tadpole. Not all develop into frogs - just as well really - some will be eaten by birds or fish, some will just die.

You can tell it's frog not toad spawn because it's in clumps - toad's is in long strings.

Incidentally, it's probably best not to collect frogspawn to observe at home. If you do, return the tadpoles to the pond you got it from. Several diseases can affect frogs and it's important not to spread these by moving spawn from one place to another.

On the edge of the woods are some hazels - as I didn't get a decent picture of the female

flowers the other day, here's to make up for that:

Couldn't get the lichen and the flower in focus together!

On the path are some alders (Alnus glutinosa), another tree with catkins.

The long catkins are male, the pink flowers are female, they develop into the brown cones.

A buzzard circled over the valley - you may have to take my word for it, my camera has no telephoto. Buzzards are not uncommon round here.