If I look out in the garden.......What can I see??

I was just thinking the other day about the i-spy books by David Bellamy.  They were great, I had a whole collection.  I used to be able to buy them from the little book club we had when I was at primary school.  Does anyone else remember them?  Anyway I was thinking what a shame it is that something similar doesn't still exist.  For anyone who hasn't got a clue what I am going on about, the i-spy books were nature books with little tick charts of things to look for.

So keeping in a theme I decided it was about time I started to pay more attention to the things around us.  It is so easy when you get a bit older to over look the little things in nature that we see everyday but go unnoticed.

When we were in the garden today clearing away all my end of season courgette plants I really started to notice how many little creatures were running around the garden.

Common Orb Weaver found on the underside of the wheel barrow.

7 spot ladybird.

Common Woodlouse.

Check out how pre-historic a woodlouse is under the magnifying glass.

The other day I was woken up to Mimi shouting woodpecker, woodpecker.  I originally thought that she might be having a bad dream.  However when I got to her bedroom she was hiding behind the curtains shouting woodpecker in the garden.  I was very surprised when I took a look to see the Green Woodpecker sitting there on the lawn.  For a split second I wondered where unearth she had seen/learnt about birds.  Then I remembered it was my dad.  I think it is so cute.  Once a week Mimi goes to my dads for the day, and he takes her on little journeys.  They usually go on the bus to Sandwich to the swings and slides and to see the ducks.  This week they went on the train to Folkestone.  Each time she comes back telling me about the birds she has either seen or heard.

Anyway the long and short of this is that I think it is really important that we slow down and take stock of what is going on around us.  Sometimes it is so easy to let life rush past us, forgetting what is important.

Keeping up with the theme this afternoon when I got in from work, we all went down to the beach to check out the rock pools and to see if we could catch some prawns for tea.  We went down with the idea of catching enough for a prawn curry.

Daddy out in the waves prawning.
Not sure we had the best of nets.

OOOOO check out the prawns.

Not sure there will be enough for a curry!

Lets open it up.  What have you seen this week which you would like to share with us?