By Ruth D'Alessandro, The Wildlife Gardener

The Wildlife Gardener has amphibian anxiety. Last week, there were NO frogs in the Wildlife Pond. No croaking, no splashing, no churning. In previous years, frogspawn has arrived in the middle of February. The surface was millpond flat, and so was my mood. What has happened?

At first, I put this dearth of amphibians down to the prolonged, harsh winter. Perhaps the newts and frogs hadn’t ventured out of hibernation. That’s fine, they’ll wake up when the time is right. Then my friend in the next village told me that her little pond has 70 frogs in it, so many that it was overflowing and gelatinous with spawn and several female frogs had been drowned by amorous males. I didn’t want 70: fifteen would be enough, five even, but none?

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The Ranger was privileged to get an invitation to a special party on the Isle of Wight this weekend.

Astronomy enthusiasts from across the south-east of England know that the south-west part of the Isle of Wight has some of the darkest skies in the region - and because of the nice weather it also has the advantage of a good chance of a clear sky.

Leo Triplet from iowstarparty with Televue Genesis
© Richie Jarvis @richiedeepsky
See full size image here - worth looking at

Brighstone holiday camp on the south-west coast has a great outlook over the unlit English Channel, and the bulk of the downs to prevent the light from the mainland leaking over. It really is pretty dark down there so I was delighted when Dr Lucy Rogers of the Vectis Astronomical Society used Twitter to invite me to come and see this important part of the Island's natural resource for myself. This was no public meeting either, a star party is where the astronomers are on their own territory - so as a neophyte I was lucky to get such a well-qualified guide to introduce me to this extraordinary event.

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Well, it seems it's actually come true. As reported on this blog and elsewhere, CABI have been looking at possible biological control agents for the invasive Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica. They're now ready to release one, the jumping plant louse Aphalara itadori

To their credit, CABI have done a remarkably good job in getting publicity not only for the process of assessment, but also for the release. Few with even a passing interest in knotweed can be unaware of the work they have been doing, or the results. This is no mean achievement for what might otherwise appear to be a fairly non-dramatic bit of biodiversity-based science.

But needless to say this hasn't stopped the hard of thinking from gathering their meagre wits and bleating caution. Luckily the Daily Mail is there to provide an outlet for such folk.

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Spotted by Ruth D'Alessandro, The Wildlife Gardener

Southern fried chicken and chimps, anyone? Mmm.

It had to happen eventually - I'd been wearing that old hat for years, and eventually I lost it, somewhere in a wet field near Reading. Yes, gone, the very hat that appears in my picture on this blog. Still, it was probably for the best. It was a tatty old thing that had seen much better days - it didn't even keep the rain off particularly well.

Look at the state of that hat! It looks as if it's been sat on many times. You can probably guess why it looks like that.

So this spring I went down to SCATS to see if they had any Barbour hats.

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