The Enid Blyton Society

Anita Bensoussane wrote:I've never noticed that sparrows cry "Philip! Philip!" so I'll have to listen out for that. They really ought to call "Jack! Jack!" as he's such a bird-lover.

No, it's the jackdaws that call that!

Lovely letters, I agree — I also had a laugh at Bobs'. Maybe the gardener did happen to find some snails in his hat after he'd left it lying on the ground, so Enid took the opportunity to surmise how they got there?

Courtenay wrote:No, it's the jackdaws that call that!

The ones on Kirrin Island don't - they call chack, chack, chack! Perhaps it's a dialect thing...

I gave up trying to read the letter on my laptop this week, despite zooming in, but I'm glad to say just about managed to make it out on my phone. I love the sound of the sunny new bedroom and the book-lined study.

I like the poem this week too - quite fun to read aloud. I've never heard a lark sing that I know of, and find it hard to imagine a birdsong with sibilant sounds!

Anita wrote:This Tom Lehrer song always reminds me of you, Nigel!

Haha! Wonderful! However, although considering poison, I was afraid that other anilmals may well ingest it. I felt gunning the blighters down to be safer.

Courtenay wrote:I didn't even have to click on the link before I knew what that was... I was right.

You would! I would expect nothing less from our resident YouTube expert.

Moonraker wrote: You would! I would expect nothing less from our resident YouTube expert.

But I didn't learn that song from YouTube... I learned it from the album it comes from, as I mentioned earlier. It was Anita's "This Tom Lehrer song always reminds me of you" that tipped me off, regardless of what site she found it on.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... perid=1046" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Enid is lucky to have frogs of all kinds in her ponds - "little ones and big ones, fat ones and thin ones, brown ones and yellow ones, all with their funny broad snouts sticking out of the water" - as well as two in her aquarium. I enjoyed the funny story about "Gillian's daddy"!

Fancy posting boxes of pondweed!

Bobs' letter made me smile as always.

Bobs' letter is very funny as usual, I don't know how Enid came up with it week after week. Spring is definitely on its way, I've seen no frogs yet but the daffodils and crocuses are out. I do enjoy these letters, it is great to be able to read them.

Yes, what lovely letters — although I should think posting pondweed would be a bit messy! I enjoyed hearing about the frogs of all kinds, including the two Enid rescued (and the surprise they gave her husband!). Glad she was considerate enough not only to release them in the pond, but to wait for a warm day to do it so they wouldn't be harmed by a sudden change in temperature. It's nice how she always teaches her young audience to be caring and respectful towards the natural world — including toads!

I'm remembering now how one spring when I was about 6 or 7, my mum and my sister and I went tadpoling in the boggy fields over the road from our house. We caught a whole bucket of tadpoles and kept them for weeks, feeding them on boiled lettuce as a substitute for pondweed. It was so fascinating to watch them each grow first one leg, then two legs, then three, then four... When they were close to fully becoming little frogs, we put a piece of wood in the bucket so they could climb out of the water, and sure enough, they all made their escape over a few days. I would think of them whenever I heard frogs chirping outside in the summer. Those fields where we found them are all built over now, but there's a wetlands reserve very close by, so there's still a place for frogs and other creatures to live near us.

I haven't seen any celandines yet this year, but there are snowdrops and crocuses in abundance where I live now and the daffodils are starting to flower!

Another nice informative letter from Enid.

We have a resident frog (don't know how many only seen one) in our garden, and yet we don't have a pond!

Kate Mary wrote:Spring is definitely on its way, I've seen no frogs yet but the daffodils and crocuses are out.

Yes, I saw drifts of daffodils and crocuses yesterday and it suddenly felt very spring-like!

Courtenay wrote:It's nice how she always teaches her young audience to be caring and respectful towards the natural world — including toads!

I love that aspect of her work too. I was interested to read about your tadpoles, Courtenay. How fascinating to watch them develop.

Julie2owlsdene wrote:We have a resident frog (don't know how many only seen one) in our garden, and yet we don't have a pond!

We don't have a pond either but I also see the occasional single frog while gardening. I've seen toads a couple of times as well and I took care to admire their eyes because Enid Blyton often talks about toads' beautiful coppery eyes in her stories and poems.

We very often collected tadpoles as kids, as the river which ran through our park was teeming with them. We collected frogspawn, and then used to keep it in a bucket as it hatched out, and as the tadpoles grew. I'm pretty sure this was in tap-water, but they always survived!

I can remember quite clearly how some changed into frogs over time...though I'm not sure Courtenay is right when she says 'first one leg, then two legs, then three...' - I'm sure our tadpoles always grew two back legs first, which both developed at the same time, and then the front legs, and lastly the tail would shrink.

We have a lot of frogs near us as my neighbour has quite a big pond and in the evenings they can be heard calling, but I think its still a bit too cold for that yet.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:

Julie2owlsdene wrote:We have a resident frog (don't know how many only seen one) in our garden, and yet we don't have a pond!

We don't have a pond either but I also see the occasional single frog while gardening. I've seen toads a couple of times as well and I took care to admire their eyes because Enid Blyton often talks about toads' beautiful coppery eyes in her stories and poems.

For some reasons, I find your description funny because my mind is making a mental picture of you looking at toads' eyes while reading your description.

I think you're right, Rob. Their two hind legs grow first then their two front legs.

Rob Houghton wrote: I can remember quite clearly how some changed into frogs over time...though I'm not sure Courtenay is right when she says 'first one leg, then two legs, then three...' - I'm sure our tadpoles always grew two back legs first, which both developed at the same time, and then the front legs, and lastly the tail would shrink.

You're right, I'm probably remembering it wrongly — it was a very long time ago. They definitely did grow their back legs before the front ones, I know.

Not as long ago as it was for me, lol!! Actually, when you think of it, if they grew only one leg at a time, they'd be swimming around in circles getting nowhere!!

It's interesting how we do these things as kids and then probably never do them again...since I was a child I've never collected frogspawn, or climbed a tree as high as I could go, or fished for tiddlers in a stream or had a snail race, or collected caterpillars or grasshoppers or ladybirds!

Mind you, I've done a load of other pretty childish things instead!

How odd to keep frogs indoors in an aquarium. I am sure they'd be happier outside.

We collected tadpoles and frogspawn too many years ago. You don't see children today with their little nets by the side of the ponds. The daffodils are out already here, much earlier than last year I believe.