--- title: The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees and nesting birds — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees and nesting birds», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In spring a garden wakes up like a house on a school morning: everyone gets moving at once, and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn,… # The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees and nesting birds Lesson 333 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/0/) — In spring a garden wakes up like a house on a school morning: everyone gets moving at once, and each has its own job to rush to. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/1/) — The horse chestnut's sticky buds burst open, a clump of frogspawn wobbles in the pond like jelly with black dots, and a huge furry queen bumblebee zigzags low over the lawn hunting for an old mouse hole to start her nest. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/2/) — Before sunrise the blackbird and the robin start singing to claim their patch, and soon a blackbird flies past with a beak full of moss and mud for her nest. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/3/) — Most of these spring jobs are about babies: eggs, nests and new families, so the kindest thing a person can do is watch from a little way off and help without getting in the way. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/4/) — Horse chestnut buds are covered in sticky stuff that keeps out insects and cold, and inside them the whole leaf and flower are packed tightly, ready to open. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/5/) — A cut horse chestnut twig kept in water indoors opens its buds early. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/6/) — A common frog lays about one to two thousand eggs in one clump, and only a few out of every thousand grow into adult frogs; frogs often come back to the pond where they grew up. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/7/) — A big bumblebee flying low in early spring is a queen, the only bumblebee that survives the winter; she searches for an old mouse hole or a tuft of grass to start a nest, which will soon hold dozens of workers. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/8/) — A bumblebee sitting still on a cold day may be cold or out of energy; moving it onto a flower is the best help, a little sugar water can be offered once, and honey must never be given because it can carry bee diseases. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/9/) — Blackbirds build cup-shaped nests of grass, moss and mud in hedges and bushes; the female builds and lays about three to five blue-green eggs with brown speckles. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/10/) — In Britain it is against the law to disturb a wild bird's nest while it is in use, so people watch from far away and avoid cutting hedges from March to August. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/11/) — Daffodils and snowdrops flower before the trees have leaves, using food stored in their bulbs to catch sunlight before the trees shade the ground; daffodil bulbs look like onions but are poisonous. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/12/) — Male birds sing at dawn to claim their patch and attract a partner; the still, quiet air at dawn carries song far, and robins and blackbirds are often among the first to start. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/13/) — A primrose has five pale yellow petals with a darker centre that guides insects to the nectar, and its name comes from old words meaning «first rose». - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/14/) — Hedgehogs wake from hibernation thin and hungry; a shallow dish of water and meaty cat food helps them, while milk and bread are bad for them. - ← previous: [Lost pets, microchips, holidays and moving house](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/332-lost-pets-microchips-holidays-and-moving-house/) - next →: [The garden in summer: flowers, aphids, ladybirds and flying ant day](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/334-the-garden-in-summer-flowers-aphids-ladybirds-and-flying-ant-day/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)