Ken observed an interesting phenomenon this afternoon. He had spent most of the day cleaning the pond and was surprised when he didn't see a single newt, generally quite plentiful this time of year. Then, he spotted a juvenile seagull — with a newt in its mouth — flying over our wall to next-door's garden. This is the first year that we have observed seagulls nesting in the walled garden (on our neighbour's chimney).

Our grandchildren were sad to hear about the newts, because they like to search for them when Grandad piles the blanketweed into his wheelbarrow. When we told them that every spring for the past three years the newts have eaten all our tadpoles, they learned another lesson about the cycle of life and death in the natural world.