Ice in space

Hi all

I discovered today that their is ice in space. Infact a large chunk of ice is whizzing past our planet. Its called a comet.

It appears that some scientists think that the water on earth might have originally come from collisions with comets, way before humans or bears lived on earth. I will have to find out more about this.

The comet is just about visible with a telescope. I had a look but it was too cloudy to see anything.

Frog spawn uncovered

Hi all

You may remember that I covered up the frog spawn in my pond to protect it against the ice and snow.

Well the snow and ice has melted and I uncovered the frog spawn today and it looks like it has not been damaged by the cold weather.

Snow flakes reflect light

Hi, it may seem strange but snow is actually very bright and its a good idea to wear sunglasses when its sunny and snowy. Thats because the sunlight is reflected by all the snow flake crystals.

In places like Antartica, where Ed the Bear visited recently, you can suffer badly from the bright sun reflecting of the snow. They call it snow blindness but it doesn't make you permenantly blind.

I took this picture near my house at night (without a flash) and you can see all teh way up the trackbecause the snow reflects the moon light and the street lights.

This is a picture I took of foxes a few weeks ago - its all black and no sighn of the foxes. The snow makes a real difference to seeing at night.

Snow covered frog spawn

It snowed very heavily during the night and the pond is frozen and the sheet I covered the frog spawn with is covered with snow.

I hope the frog spawn is safe.

The frogs will be safe at the bottom of the pond. Althought frogs have lungs, they can also breathe through their skin

Protecting the frog spawn

I heard that the weather was going to get very cold and that we would also get some more snow. I was worried that this would damage the frog spawn, so I carefully covered the eggs with a water proof sheet.

Very soon it began to snow, I hope the frog spawn will be safe. Snow is already settling on the sheet.

Frogs return to my pond to spawn

Hi

I awoke this morning to see that the frogs had returned to my pond and started to spawn. There were several clumps of frog spawn floating in the pond

Later in the day when the sun came out I took a closer look.

The frogs were very active, but they quickly dived underwater when I came near.

So I decided to sit very still at the edge of the pond and wait for them to come back up.

As long as I did not move the frogs didn't appear to notice me.

Spring flowers and bumble bees

Hi all

Well it seems like spring is here at last.

There are many spring flowers in my garden and I saw my first queen bumble bee. The queen bumble hibernates in the winter.

Unlike honey bees, only the queen survives the winter. She comes out of hibernation in March when the weather is warmer and there are spring flowers to visit.

Once the queen has visited a few flowers for nectar, she will search for a place to make a nest and start a new bumble bee colony. this will usually be underground