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44.

22nd. Feb. 1953. Our Frog - which is a female - seen in back garden in forenoon & when Daisy offered her a white enamelled dish of water she jumped into it at once although she could not see the water in it at 3 to 4 inches above her head. She did not stay in the water more than a few seconds, but again jumped into it a few minutes later & again out.

23rd & 24th Feb. Daffodils now out in some gardens - probably those planted last autumn only?On 23rd took 2 P.M. bus to Whitechurch & walked round past St. Columba's College & Grange road & back to Rathfarmham bus. Still very mild, but strong SW - W wind. On 24th walked to Rathfarmham Bridge & down Dodder to Dartry & home. Viola Reichenbachiana out in the Dodder Park, above Orwell Bridge, & seen out on 23rd in Grange Road, near Ballanteer. Many elms in flower & ♂ Salix up in flower above the weir & below Rathfarmham Bridge.

25th Feb. Mild & very windy (W-SW.). First catkins on ♀ Salix cinerea in back garden showing stigmas. Dead frogs on road between Crumlin & Willington Ho. 6 in fifty yards, 10 altogether.

26th Feb. A lovely hot sunny day! Hardly a cloud & very hot sun. Rather strong SW wind in forenoon, but hardly any in afternoon, when Daisy saw a Bumble Bee (probably B. terrestris from description!) & a small Tortoiseshell Butterfly in front garden & later we both saw a ♂

48.

26.2.53, cont. B. agrorum at Daphne bloggiana & I heard & saw a large Bumble Bee fly across the back garden, which was either B. terrestris or lucorum & may have been the one seen previously by Daisy in front garden. One flower open on Flowering Currant in back garden, as well as a flower on the large Snowdon Sax. opp. on W. border. Our Forsythia now out & Chinodoxa in hundreds. Blue Hyacinth in front garden & White H. in back garden in flower. 

27th Feb. 6th March. Almost continuous mist or fog this week & very cold with frost at night toward the end of it. Virtually no wind & glass steady at 30.5! Same conditions over most of British Isles also.

8th March 1953. Like 7th a very beautiful spring day after a white frost. I was driven by E.S.A. Baynes to head of Glenmalure at the ford of Baravore, where he in 1949 (Spring) bred a Microlepidopteron (Lampronia tenuicornis St.) & its parasite (Panteles schutzeana) from swellings on birch twigs, which he found on right bank of the river just below the ford. We collected over a dozen of these galled twigs which Baynes took back to try his luck with them. The whole place at Baravore now planted with conifers around the circular moraine. Left about 2.30 & home at 4 PM. via Rathdrum & The Scalp. Anemone appenina out in front garden : one flower. 

Transcription Notes:
♂♀☿