More About Catching Mice
As I was leaving Church the other Sunday, I was quizzed on why one should use a wellington boot for catching mice. After much wit and joking on the subject I asked "well what would you use then"? "I wouldn't" she said, "I can't stand them!" (mice), followed by much more laughter. I ask you! a mouse is 2 inches long and only half as thick whereas an average human by comparison is sixty times taller and I won't go discussing the thickness of waists compared to a mouse. 

Trimmed up Grass
The seeds dropped from the feeder by the little birds have germinated and grown into a hump of greenery some three to four inches high on the ground by the apple tree. The pheasants, who to my wife's great annoyance have been trimming the newly planted seeds in the garden have discovered this and reduced the hump to nearly nothing.

Of Birds
I stepped out in the late evening for some reason and hesitated on the door step. A blackbird was singing his heart out high up in one of the trees in the garden.
Local birdsongs fill the garden this month supplemented by summer visitors such as the Blackcap and the Cuckoo. The latter was first heard cuckooing away on 28^th April, it now sings all day long. It is  the only Male that calls to attract a female. The females call is an explosive bubbling sound. After mating she will seek out the nest of a small bird in which to lay a single egg. The young chick, when hatched, ejects all the other eggs from the nest so that the smaller adoptive parents will slave to feed it.

The male black cap was heard singing in our garden at the beginning of May. It has a beautifully rich song delivered in short bursts. A predominately grey bird it arrives here after a long flight from Africa to breed. I also saw a male at Elstead moat singing on a bush. Only the male has the black cap. the female have chestnut brown heads.

Foxes
The young foxes are getting bold and can be seen in the countryside, about the size of a small cat and like all young things, charming (lambs, puppies, kittens, calves and some, children).
And a Grey Squirrel bouncing along the top of our fence.

Toads and Insects
Driving home I came across a Toad late in the afternoon, he/she was crawling across the tarmac and luckily was in a position for me to avoid as I passed. I walked back down the road to help him but he had made it to the comparative safety of the verge.

The first signs of summer are by the river. A few banded damsel flies have braved the elements and hatch out from a nymph that has spent two years in the water . These will increase in number as the summer progresses. They are colourful and graceful creatures fluttering along the river bank. The males have green/blue bodies and a large blue patch on each of the four wings. The females in contrast are a metallic green with no banding on the wings. They feed on insects such as caddis flies, and alderflies etc. which they can capture in flight or pick off riverside plants.
While "pond dipping" in our garden pond with our small grandson we found some newly hatched damsel fly nymphs. They were very tiny; damsel fly nymphs can be easily distinguished from dragonfly nymphs as they have three gill filaments at the end of the body (dragonfly larvae have rounded bottoms)  The nymphs can swim with lateral movements using the three filaments like oars.