Frogs galore!!

[star]

I just been on slug patrol and met 3 friendly hoppy froggies on my wanderings :D. I found no slugs, only 3 huge snails, which will be the thrushes breakfast ;D.

I spend a lot of time sitting by the pond watching the goings on of the frogs and taddies. Its so relaxing just peering into their world :D

I must learn how to download photos  :-\

[star]

[manicscousers]

our taddies seem to be stuck,maybe we're going to get all year round tadpoles  ;D
found 4 snails having a breakfast of basil, threw them on the garage roof , takes them a long time to get back to the greenhouse, if they evade the birds  ;D

[cleo]

Any spare frogs and toads are most welcome in this village-we never did recover from the grass snake invasion

[star]

Ew Cleo, thats sad :(, are you north or south? Hope the grass snakes have evened out their population now.

[honeybee]

I love to watch them on a warm summers day as they bask on the lilly pads, they look so funny and its a great opportunity to do a head count  :)

[froglets]

Hi Star,

Not sure who's watching who when it comes to my pond.  This morning while hanging out my washing I counted 5 pairs of eyes looking at me & usually when I'm down that end of the garden sowing & potting up, the biggest of the "boys" comes out from his personal hide to see what I'm doing.

[star]

Hahaha Froglets, yes its great isnt it! About 10 taddies have got nice long legs now, lots have small ones and there are a few with none. There's a couple of toad poles too ;D. I'd really love for the newts to breed, but we dont quite have enough cover for them to wrap their eggs in.......next year will have lots more pond weed:D

I havent watched a pond or its inhabitants since I was a kid, its fantastic.

I cant wait to get a small water lilly Honeybee, they are so dear. Hey its my birthday soon and the family keep asking me what I want!! Sorted ;D

[Baccy Man]

Woolworths may still have some water lilies they are only £4 there compared to £15+ from most other companies.

[star]

Oh wow BC, thank you very much for that, I will check Woolies out ;D ;D

[star]

Here's some of the pond critters, not much variety in species. But my babies are leaving home :'(

[Andy H]

We have had 5 dead frogs this year, dont kno why they are dying but at least we have had more live ones than normal.

[star]

Oh Andy that doesnt sound good.

Have a look at Ranavirus on google, just to see wether the symptoms are the same as your dead frogs. There is a website as well that welcomes information of the spread of this virus and another one that I cannot remember.........someone else may know the website and the other virus.

Sorry I cant help more but I lost all my bookmarks when our puta went down a few weeks ago

[grawrc]

You're welcome to a "cutting" from one of my water lilies when I finally get around to splitting them. Can't remember what sort they are though - they've been there 15+ years.

[star]

Oh thankyou Anne, if its a Pygmae type I would be very interested. My pond is only small.......and no one got me one (waterlily) for my birthday :-\ as they didn't know what sort I wanted.

At the moment the water cress you sent in spring has gone mad and is totally covering the pond surface. Its looking amazing! I think it dies in winter, so it will have to come out later on. Hopefully its set some seed :D

[grawrc]

I don't think they're pygmy - at least given the spread !! I'll probably lift them after the winter and cut them back. How small is your pond? One is pink and one is sort of creamy white and - yes - they're too big for my pond but mainly because it's about 4 or 5 years since they were cut back. That was one of Peter's jobs.

Interestingly my water cress was eaten by something the day after I put it in the pond, but there must have been ungerminated seed in the pot which has since grown and established nicely. Glad yours is doing so well.

As to frogs: our garden is full of the pint-sized variety at the moment. You have to watch where you walk.

[Andy H]

Star: googled and filled out survey and willing to post dead frogs to lab if they want so will see what happens.

[star]

Grawc, my pond is very tiny.......not even a square metre. Maybe the lillies you have will be too much for it. I will certainly grow the watercress again its fabulous. Do you remove yours at the end of the year or just thin it out? (Thankyou for the offer though I do appreciate it) :D

Andy.......Im pleased you found the site, it would be nice if they let you know what has killed your frogs. Let us know how you get on :)

[theothermarg]

Iagree can,t move for them here! a local cat has been on frogwatch and we caught him hook one out of the pond :o a quick rap on the window and he dropped it back. fatbob our cat sits and watches, he caught one once but didn,t harm it, think he,s too lazy to bother now. here is one of my "babies"

marg

[theothermarg]

yikes they were all out there croaking away at dusk last night :o never known them so noisie,not that I mind but I thought they did that in spring when they were mating
anybody elses doing this?
marg

[kt.]

We have had 5 dead frogs this year,

So you are saying you have had 5 that have croaked already ;D ;D