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Frogs, have you

Started by Nigel B, February 24, 2012, 19:39:08

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Debs

Haven't heard any froggy love songs or movement around pond as yet -probably too cold for them
but shall keep eyes and ears open!!

Debs

Debs


tricia

On Saturday I could scarcely believe my eyes - but yes, two clumps of frogspawn at the shallow end of my pond! I'm not really that surprised when I think about it. We've scarcely had night temperatures at 0C more than a couple of times so far this winter. Right now at 11:15pm my outdoor sensor tells me it is 11.2C, though this afternoon around 4pm it was at 9.7C. This weird increase in temperature at night has happened quite often this winter.

I bet the frogspawn doesn't survive though - either the fish will eat it or we'll get a frost which will probably kill it off.

Tricia 

Nigel B

Oh well spotted Tricia!

And also, believe it or not, the pond looks like its been trashed this morning and the fish were obviously disturbed. I spotted two frogs, one locked onto the other, with the other looking at or near deaths door. I suspect they had it all going on last night.
No sign of any spawn though, which is slightly worrying, I had hoped to rescue some to grow on in the greenhouse water-butt.
Still, hopefully this is just the first stirrings...
"Carry on therefore with your good work.  Do not rest on your spades, except for those brief periods which are every gardeners privilege."

claybasket

I have been looking for frogs spawn in my wee tiny bucket pond at the lotty, and at home I can't see anything ,but we do have a toad somewhere in the ivy on the ground at home , do they do things the same way as the frogs ?

tricia


claybasket

Toad spawn looks like a string a black pearls thanks Tricia, I will be staring like mad at my wee. pond :wave:

Nigel B


Frogspawn ahoy!
Nearly two months behind Tricia's January 28th find down there in the south of England to the forst spawn I have seen here in the north--east of Wales. Just about walking pace for me. :-)
The pond weeds are battered by the mighty-mating being carried out by a surprising amount of Frogs. They've been at it for a couple of weeks now, but this morning here were two small clumps of spawn, and when I looked out of the window this afternoon there were little Froggy-heads scooting about all over the place and a quick peep revealed a lot more, so hey are at it all day too, which was unexpected by me. (Live and learn. Every day something new.)

So, Spring is here for me! All it needs to do now is get warmer and wetter and we'll know Summer is on the way too. :icon_cheers:
"Carry on therefore with your good work.  Do not rest on your spades, except for those brief periods which are every gardeners privilege."

Mark /\

Well I found 3 lumps of frogspawn this morning up here in West Yorkshire. Two days earlier than last year

Aden Roller

Frog spawn arrived a few weeks ago but only, so far, one splodge which is unsual. I guess the cold winter conditions may have reduced frog numbers?  :sad10:

tricia

As anticipated - the frog spawn first seen end of January has disappeared. The fish must have eaten it - there certainly isn't any sign of tadpoles! It is also possible that the very heavy rain of a couple of nights ago - which almost caused the pond to overflow! - dislodged it from the shallows where it had nestled among stones and Creeping Jenny, so giving the fish even easier access to a feast.

Tricia

BarriedaleNick

Had a couple of frogs at it in the pond at the weekend but no spawn yet.
Moved to Portugal - ain't going back!

macmac

Our pond was teeming with frogs spawn and frogs and very vocal they were too .
Today it looks empty and muddy with the plants in a mess,I can only assume it's a pair of mallards that drop in at this time of year.I try to discourage them as we once found them on our koi pond and worried they would get tangled in the protective netting.                                                                                                        The OH loathes the little croakers :laughing8:
He called on me today to fish one out of the koi filter system,we really can't figure how they get in there 'tho one poor little chap met a messy end in the pump yuk ! :kermit: :kermit: :kermit:
sanity is overated

Aden Roller

Frogs can be a pain in the pond if there's too many of them and your pond is a particularly decorative one.

Our pond is piddly - it's a small green prefabricated / molded model with three shelves for plants - only the plants have failed to stay put on the shelves.  :sad5:
It often looks lovely when things burst into bloom.

Our fish are sadly depleted - after breeding they became overstocked and oxygen levels dropped. We have several of the fry growing up nicely as well as some golden / red ones left from a few years back.

We welcome the frogs.... as does the cat who enjoys stalking them in the undergrowth. She rarely harms them having tried a jaw full years ago and found they're not that nice raw.  :cat:

I love the things each with its own varied pattern and colouring. They are a real asset in the garden. Our fish appear not to eat the tadpoles or if they do only a few.

Look out for newts as they are the bringers of bad news for tadpoles.  :evil4:

Jeannine

Oo Oo Oo, I have just remembered we have a pond here at the new place, am I too late to go egg hunting so I can transport some ?

XX Jeannine
When God blesses you with a multitude of seeds double  the blessing by sharing your  seeds with other folks.

BarriedaleNick

And now it's gone mad - frogs a plenty "at it" and a fair bit of spawn.  When I get near the pond there is a lot of splashing and they all dive!!
Moved to Portugal - ain't going back!

Aden Roller

Quote from: Jeannine on March 19, 2013, 19:23:50
Oo Oo Oo, I have just remembered we have a pond here at the new place, am I too late to go egg hunting so I can transport some ?

XX Jeannine

Here there's still loads of time to find new dollops of frog spawn but toads are rare. I'm not sure but I think there are rules or even laws against moving toad and probably frogs (may include spawn) from one pond to another.

In the case of toads because they are a protected species.
In the case of frogs because there is a disease than can be transferred along with the frogs.

Sad to think that years ago, not many minutes walk from here, they were common creatures along with the sand lizards, slow worms, grass and smooth snakes. The most you find in the long grass now is empty plastic drink bottles and burger wrappers.  :disgust:

brown thumb

found a long strand of toad spawn a couple of days ago ,.hope the fish are finding the weathers too cold to eat it yet ,  as its still there to day  :blob7:

Aden Roller

Quote from: brown thumb on March 24, 2013, 21:58:15
found a long strand of toad spawn a couple of days ago ,.hope the fish are finding the weathers too cold to eat it yet ,  as its still there to day  :blob7:

You lucky thing! I haven't seen a toad for years!

irridium

had 3 clumps in and then they got frosted, but now unsure whether any of it is still alive or not as i can't tell when it still looks like normal spawn to me. the water is still looking clear and i can see there's no alteration in colour on the spawn, so how can i tell if it's still alive?

Nigel B

If they die at this stage, the black nucleus (if that's the word) turns white so its quite easy to tell. :-)
"Carry on therefore with your good work.  Do not rest on your spades, except for those brief periods which are every gardeners privilege."

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