Dear Readers, I’m not quite sure why I love frogs so much, but there’s something about those little faces peering up from the water weed that always cheers me up, especially on a rainy day. Look at this one, as happy as a frog could possibly be in his personal water garden! And if you listen carefully, you can hear them singing – the male frogs have snow-white throats, as if to emphasise their vocal power.

They seem to be mostly males at the moment – there are a few smug couples who have already paired up, and there was a bit of a mating tussle going on yesterday with about five frogs all tangling with one another. I always feel a bit sorry for the first females who appear, as they are rather too popular for their own good. There is still not a jot of frogspawn, but I’m ever hopeful.

I love the way that sometimes the frogs just hang in the water like little astronauts. And look at those beautiful eyes! Could they be any more splendid?

And in other news, I saw a Great Tit emerging from the nest box that we put up at the end of last year. Fingers crossed for some babies! The pair of them have been hanging around in the garden a lot over the past few weeks. I think the site is pretty safe from cats, but not, sadly, from magpies or woodpeckers. I hope that nobody predatory notices what’s going on.

And finally, the blackbird wars in the garden seem to have eased, and one pair seems to have claimed the whole place as their territory. It’s so wonderful to hear the male singing in the morning.