Having (hopefully) cleared away the especially cold weather for this end of the year, Spring has been getting going with full effect on the sunny South Coast. I say cold weather, but we heard via Facebook friends who have emigrated to Calgary in Canada were basking in minus quite a lot degrees centigrade temperatures, so I suppose it’s all relative.

Having put in a wildlife pond last year, we were delighted to see that the local wildlife had taken the hint and pretty much choked up one end with frogspawn. Our excitement retreated a tad when we went through that short sharp cold snap after we’d been lulled into a false sense of security. I have to confess I have never seen frozen frogspawn before and it wasn’t boding well for Frogs: The Next Generation.

Goes to show what I know. We now have hundreds and hundreds of elongated commas swimming around the pond, and we spotted the most likely culprit when a fairly large frog surfaced only to take fright and crash dive. So a quick census ensued and we concluded that we have enough tadpoles to remake that Star Trek episode with the Tribbles only with tadpoles. Except it would be under water so maybe it would be 20 Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, or in our case a couple of inches under the pond surface. Anyway, there’s an awful lot of them.

As of today it looks like there are a few less as we seem to have a newt moved in as well. A newt with a fondness for tadpoles. And I don’t mean liable to adopt them either. Ah well, as the circle of life goes on, we now have quite a number of snails which we think were seeded when we got some pond water from a friend to accelerate the balancing of the water. Just after the frogspawn was laid, they were gently grazing the spawn so what with the newt and all, we’re beginning to realise why frogs lay quite so many eggs. They have joined a number of pond skimmers and something that looks like an aquatic wood louse, although we don’t think they are involved in culling the tadpoles.

Whisper it quietly, but when the little frogs finally get big enough to leave the pond, they may face yet another ‘life challenge’. In London we had a wildlife pond, frogs came, spawned and we had half a plague full of tiny frogs. As Tiny Cat was still around at the time, and was pretty quick, he was inclined to have some sport with them. Yes we sat him down and explained the issues involved, but since he was a cat, he didn’t get it and continued in his merry way. We still have our other cat, and truth be told she was more likely to suffocate them by sitting on them being somewhat over weight at the time. She is now quite svelte, so it depends on whether her lack of frog hunting ability was size related or just a matter of genetic makeup. For the frogs’ sake you have to hope the latter.

If we get any more wild life in the pond we may have to build an extension or else we may be done for wilfully overcrowding a pond. In the meantime our expectation is a visit from either Kate Humble, Ray Mears or David Attenborough is merely moments away.

On Tuesday 6th April 2010, our friends at the Park FM celebrate their first anniversary of ‘The Park On-line’ launching as an Internet Radio Station. And it only seems like yesterday that there wasn’t any sort of local regular programming dedicated to the Forest. Where does the time go….

*Cough*. Back from sepia-tinted revery. They really have to be commended on how far they have come, and if you listen you’ll realise that not only will they be shortly broadcasting in FM, they have plans for a video channel. Of course if I was any kind of a proper writer, I’d have asked them where that would be. Probably not Sky HD, but may be their own YouTube channel? No doubt we will hear when we need to know.

Now they have moved to the new HQ in Lymington (yay) all is go and the magic number has been confirmed as 96.9FM by Ofcom. If you are feeling just a tad left out that you didn’t know all the Park FM news, why not become a fan of their Facebook page . It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s oh so now! If you don’t have a Facebook account then you’ll wonder what the heck I’m on about. But then I’m told that’s quite a normal reaction when I communicate, so don’t feel bad.

Just in passing, listened to Louisa and Stephen yesterday afternoon, nice job guys. So back to the plot. They have beautifully crafted six hours of special programmes, featuring archive interviews from over the last 12 months, so lend an ear tomorrow (Tuesday) and listen to a little bit of history!

You know all about The Park don’t you? OK, maybe not. It’s run by New Forest Community Media, a not-for-profit and volunteer-led organisation which was launched in March 2007 to provide an Internet news and pod-casting service. It’s currently run from their nerve centre in Brock and provides music and local interest stuff. If you’re worried about hearing nothing but sea shanties and a capella folk sung by bearded men in Fair Isle jumpers, don’t worry the music is contemporary veering a little towards the easy listening. As I type this they have played Shaggy, Madonna, the Pointer Sisters and Snow Patrol. I’m not saying that’s a representative sample, but it does suggest it’s pretty unlikely they’ll feature Megadeth in their regular scheduling.

Anyway, the point in mentioning any of this is that they have just been granted a licence to broadcast by Ofcom. The normal persons version of this is they get to send their programs over the airways as well as online, thus giving the New Forest an easily accessible community broadcaster. Good news in my book.

Cat Lake, Managing Editor for NFCM, said: “This is a great reward after two-and-a-half years of hard work.  This licence will enable us to operate a full FM radio service serving the New Forest which brings local communities together. ” Seeing as one of the charms of the New Forest, the many small communities also creates one of it’s biggest problems, viz communication, The Park looks to be a good fit. What’s more having talked with some of the Park people, I have not doubt that their concern to promote community interaction within the Forest is entirely genuine.

If you need proof that it’s A Good Thing, then the fact that the leaders of both Hampshire County Council and New Forest District Council agree has to lend credence being as how their respective organisations normally agree on so many things…. they were even at the opening of the station together. But regardless of whether you live in the area, or are one of the numerous visitors to this site contemplating a move here, go to the listen again section of the website and check out some of the guests from the breakfast show. It’ll be informative and who knows, you might even learn something you didn’t know.

The Park’s strapline is “Community radio for the New Forest” and to quote a famous philosopher, it does exactly what it says on the tin.