Pesto and a newt

13th March

Home-made pesto, from home-grown basil, for lunch at DTH and Bizz's. Yum. Thank you. A brambling in their garden.

A female smooth newt in a dipping tray at Kelling Heath in the afternoon. At once strong and fragile. Siskins and bramblings call in the woods by the pond: tiuw and bzheeep respectively.

In the middle of the pond, fish surface to bask. Rudd or roach. Roach or rudd. Rudd I think but I can't see enough to be sure. I'm working on it.


You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.

William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream

If you have never had cause to be glad you have a nose, pesto might lift you to new realms of nasal appreciation. One of the most aromatic of human concoctions, pesto is to your kitchen as the first hyacinth of spring is to your garden.

Mollie Katzen
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest and Other Timeless Delicacies

New this afternoon

	Amphibians
6	smooth newt	Lissotriton vulgaris

2012 Totals

Mammals: 55

Birds: 444

Reptiles: 12

Amphibians: 6

Fish: 3