The Waters of March

Monday, 1st March 2005
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

Between showers (some of which were hail storms), it's warm enough for 17 frogs to appear on the pond. No frog-spawn as yet though.

This morning a charm of 14 goldfinches visited the garden. We're going to have to put out some more feeders to meet the demand - there's only room for two on our nyger seed feeder. Most of them perched in the crab apple.

I clean up the stand (a black plastic water butt stand) that we put the seed hopper on to keep it out of the reach of mice and voles, brushing it and sluicing it with water. It's steep around the edges but there's a curved indentation on one side (it's the place you put your watering can to fill it, when the butt is in place).

I look out ten minutes later and the the cock pheasant is standing, his breast fitting snuggly into this recess, feeding as if he's at a table in a restaurant.

The Waters of Mars

Well, they look like ice floes to me too.

Recent images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Europe's Mars Express spacecraft show 'what appears to be a dust-covered frozen sea near the Martian equator.'

Related Links

ESA’s Mars Express sees signs of a ‘frozen sea’

ESA Mars Express

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk