Today it's the spring equinox; the first day of spring. Here in the Northern hemisphere the spring equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator (an imaginary line in the sky above earth’s equator), going from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern hemisphere. So if you want to be precise, the equinox was actually at 3:33pm this afternoon! The word equinox derives from the latin aequi, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night, as on this day the hours of daylight and dark are equal...or almost. In fact, because of refraction in the atmosphere that bends the sun’s rays, causing the sun to appear above the horizon when it’s actually below, we will actually be seeing a few more minutes of sunlight than darkness at the spring equinox.
Another thing that happens at the equinoxes is that there are extra big tides because the sun, being at it closest point to the earth, has its greatest gravitational pull on the oceans and you get really big spring tides where the water goes out further and comes in further than any other time of year.
Pagans mark the spring solstice with the festival of oestre and celebrate it as a time of renewal and rebirth, often represented by the egg, and, of course, Christians celebrate easter at around the same time too, along with many an easter egg. So it only seemed fitting to share a picture of some frog spawn that I saw in a local pond today as my own little nod to the day!