Allotments 4 All

I went out to the pond today and we have frog spawn.   ;D ;D ;D

Anyone else got any yet?

Haven't been to the lottie this week yet but hoping to see some signs of life when I next get there. That's early for frog spawn, will it be okay with the cold weather that's forecast for later this week?

I thought it was a bit early and it is going to be very cold this week.  Well, if they survive they will probably get eaten by the fish!  :'(

Two ponds in our garden and not a frog in sight :'(

Debs

NO!

I am chuffed to think I am the first to get frogspawn.  Just in case you think I am winding you up, here are a couple of pics.  ;)

I suppose it would have been easier to get the date printed on the picture but I am not sure how I go about it.

I think you must be the first, I saw one frog about a week ago but I think it has had second thoughts and gone back down to the bottom of the pond.

It looks like we are in for a cold snap soon Pauline, will you put the the frogspawn in a bucket somewhere or are you going to let it take its chances?

I am sure your data will be of interest to the Springwatch team  Pauline.  Follow the lead from the BBC site, if you have not already done so.

Nothing here in my pond yet but I don't really expect to see any for a few weeks yet. Hope yours survives Pauline!!!  :D

Quote from: Carol on February 25, 2006, 14:03:09
I am sure your data will be of interest to the Springwatch team  Pauline.  Follow the lead from the BBC site, if you have not already done so.

I did this a few days ago Carol when I first spotted it. 

John, I will let it take its chance as regard the cold.  If the cold doesn't get it then the birds probably will.  Those that get to hatch will probably be eaten by goldfish, if there are any fish left in there after the heron's visit.

Ah well, its a heron eat goldfish eat frogspawn world.  :) :) :)

What an amazing sight  Pauline, great pic too.  Since a couple of sightings the frogs seem to be lying low in our pond/garden and I haven't seen them for at least a week.  I think they won't be back until the weather gets warmer as like most other places the temperature here is very very cold.  We have had some years where our frog spawn has frozen but they seem to survive it with out any problems so hopefully yours will be okay Pauline.  Hope so after all that production.  :D busy_lizzie

Quote from: busy_lizzie on February 27, 2006, 12:53:11
........  Hope so after all that production.  :D busy_lizzie

I bet they enjoyed it though.   ;D ;D ;D

...all that frantic activity must have kept 'em warm!

debs ;D

I got quite excited when I thought I saw some underneath the ice but on
looking closer I saw it was hailstones that had come down earlier that had sunk and got iced over   i'll keep watching ???

Both of our ponds are frozen solid, and no sign of frog spawn or frogs.  It was end of March last year they arrived in force and started doing their thing, so that looks like a more realistic time now for frog spawn here. busy_lizzie

16th march here last year BL, so taking a closer watch!
Pauline well done your froggies!!! Eager little beavers! ;D

Great pictures Pauline, it will be interesting to see if the spawn survives the cold spell.

We always have a laugh here, we have the one solitary frog, but at this time of year, like it or not, her fancy man comes marching down the road and makes it known that hes keen  ;)

He hangs about for a week or two, then off he trots to whevever he came from. We refer too him as the tourist frog who likes to spend his annuals at my place, not seen him yet though this spring, nor have we heard any funny business so far  ;)  ;D

Nuffink!
Frozen solid!

We have frog spawn.  The frogs are very active in the pond today and I noticed this when I went out for my daily check of the pond.  :) busy_lizzie

Wow!  that was quick. They don't waste much time do they ;)

Debs

Quote from: honeybee on March 04, 2006, 11:28:49
Great pictures Pauline, it will be interesting to see if the spawn survives the cold spell.

I inspected the frogspawn yesterday and although there is some spawn on the top that has a glazed appearance, the rest of it seems OK.  Some are beginning to change shape from a black dot to a comma.  I couldn't see any fish though but only had 6 small ones last year as the herons had taken out the rest.   :(

I had netting over the pond one year but a neighbours Labrador got into our garden and decided to go for a swim.   >:(   It could have been worse though as last year we had a herd of cows run up our drive and into our garden.  They didn't go in the pond though but decided to inspect our greenhouse instead.  Fortunately the owners replaced the damaged glass.

I was at the allotment yesterday and noticed some frogs at the bottom of the pond and lots of frog spawn, so pleased to see them back again.

(http://www.news2share.co.uk/photos/2006/frogspawn110306.jpg)

What a lovely photo Jesse. The light shining on the pond shows everything so clearly.   It is  good to see the frogs back.  Just need the weather to improve a bit, so we are sure spring is here at last. busy_lizzie

No frogspawn here. They're all shivering at the bottom of the ponds.

thanks BL, it hasn't really felt very spring-like yet has it...I'm sure last year we'd had a few warmish days by now.

I saw 2 frogs doing what frogs do best yesterday morning  ;) I thought this was really early! Lots of bubbles today but no sighting as yet.I live in Worcestershire and i am positive that last year they weren,t around this early.None in the "lottie" pond yet though but its more exposed than in the garden so i am not really suprised.
Lyn

Just been out in the garden and like most everywhere in the North we are covered in snow and more coming down, but strangely the ponds aren't frozen, just a layer of slush in them, and the water feels quite temperate, so I hope the poor froggies are snug and the spawn is not damaged. busy_lizzie

I ve got some at last!......... ;D

Ever since I was young and collecting frogspawn was an annual event the lumps of frogspawn have always been floating at the surface of the water, especially in the shallow parts of the pond. Can anyone explain why this year the six or seven clumps which have appeared in my garden pond in the last few days are all lying on the bottom of the pond?

I am desperate for some frogspawn can anyone tell me how i go about getting it please, i do not know anyone who has any.
We have had the odd frog in the garden but i would like to encourage more.HELP.

Hi Rosebud,

There is an article in the new issue(April) of essential watergarden on how to attract frogs in to the garden.

Sara :)

Thank you Sara, i shall have a look.

Welcome to A4A. ;D   Rosebud.

Yes frogspawn is in my newly created wildlife pond ;D.
          Someone told me,- or i read it somewhere,that a frog always returns to the pond it was born in to reproduce,- like the eel always returns to the same river?Is this true anyone please ?

                       Regards,
                             Mark.

Have no idea Mark, but I have about 20 forgs having fun in my tiny pond as I type and YES, we finally have spawn in East Sussex!

Have finally got some here in North Wales too   ;)  Strange stuff it is too.  Its MASSIVE. Ive never seen such large spawn either frog or toad.  I think I have a mutant in the pond.  Getting a bit scared to let the dogs drink from the pond in case the mutant thinks they are edible  :o
Each egg must be an 3/4 inch or so across.  I kid you not ......its huge

No frog spawn yet in my pond, although the frogs have been 'at it' for a while now.  One very strange thing though - one of the frogs is clinging on to one of my fish (needless to say the fish is dead :'().  What do you think has happened, anyone know if frogs attack fish :-\  It has been hanging on to the fish for a couple of days now - maybe it's a short sighted frog who thinks he is with another frog :)

We have two gigantic frogs in our pond (or at least, 4 big frogs legs as they are determined to hide from us) but no sign of spawn yet - good to hear that its not too late though.

We also have 2 small newts! :)

We've got four frogs who are busy producing lots of spawn.
There's no TV in our pond so they've got to do something to amuse themselves. :D

There's the added advantage that their activity stops the pond from freezing over (it's been bloody cold here in Sheffield)!

Lucky you Sally.  Would love to have some newts pay us a visit.

I have frogspawn on my new lottie.. and I don't even have a pond.

They've gone and laid it in a 4" deep puddle of water in one of the tarps covering the plot, bless 'em! Suppose I'll be having to dig a teeny pond for them soon, then..

Melanie

FG, you have just got to build a pond now and give the poor little things a decent home.   :)  Well, our frogs have now taken over both of the ponds in the garden, despite the horrible wintery weather, that is still taking place here. We have quite a bit of frog spawn in the main pond and they have started filling up the smaller pond now.  busy_lizzie

Garden girl,
Yes, unfortunately, frogs will cling onto fish & the fish will die.
It's them or them I'm afraid.

Thanks telboy.  I must admit in all my years of keeping pond fish I have never come across this before.

Pat has to rescue one of my fish from an over amorous, short sighted frog last year, well, actually got OH to do it!  They just seem to get too carried away sometimes! ;D

Yes we've intervened in the passionate but lethal exploits of frogs "hugging" fish before now too. ::) ::)

I’m still waiting, there were a few frogs around until the weather turned cold but the pond suddenly developed a covering of some horrible green froth last week, resembling a rather cheap Dr Who special effect from the 1970s, its not a blanket weed but some other kind of algae I guess.

Anyway, I skimmed quite a bit of this slime off the surface and last nights rain seemed to finish off the rest. So hopefully the frogs will be back to do the frog thing soon.

Hi all, I made a pond on my lottie a couple of years back, and was assured that froggies, toads and newts would find their own way to it and set up home.

Sadly, this hasn't happened and the slugs are still living the life of Riley... My question is - is there anywhere I can get frog/toad/newt spawn for my pond? I have a feeling I shouldn't be taking it from the wild, but I don't know anyone with a garden pond inhabited by breeding amphibians.

Any suggestions would be gratefully noted :)

ta
jams

I'v been checking every day, nothing :'( then today  ;D there it was
right in the middle a clump of spawn  of coarse last night the wind
changed and it rained   those poor little froggies must have been bursting
I should think the human equivalent of being a few months over due ::)
I thought my frogs had deserted me this year as I havent seen any yet
so it's cheered me up :)

I have hundreds of tadpoles from the first lot of spawn that were shown in the pictures on page 1 of this thread.  ;D ;D ;D

The frogs laid some more eggs yesterday so it looks like I will be inundated with frogs in my garden this year.   

)

Still nothing here.  :'( :'( :'(

Result!

I built my pond in 2004 and yesterday (pritty much as soon as the weather changed) two large clumps of frogspawn appeared.

hello Pauline, our pond is a mass of activitie as there are so many tiny frogs all I can see is there tiny heads with huge eyes staring at me. I am hoping to see frogspawn very soon..keep you all in touch touch...Maureen

Aaaaargh! Nothing yet! We normally have frogspawn in February. :'( :'(

Hello Maureen,  I see you are a new member so welcome to the forum.  ;D
I am sure you will find plenty of topics here to interest you and we are a very friendly bunch.   :D :D

I hope your frogs produce some spawn for you soon.  nice to make your aquaintance.   Pauline

Hello Maureen - welcome :D 
I have been waiting quite a time for my frogspawn to appear but now they are making up for lost time ::)

Lots of frogsong last night so I am fully anticipating finding spawn in at least one of the ponds today.

Finally saw some spawn today after 3 days and nights of 'singing'  Better late than never  :)

YEah! We got it! We got it! We got it! 6 clumps of frogspawn as a result of the frogsong!

YAAAAAYYYY!!!! At last I have frogspawn in my pond too!!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D I thought for a while there my frogs had deserted me.

If spawn is here can spring be far behind? ???

Spotted mine this morning, i too thought i wasnt going to get any this year as it got so late, but nope, ive got a huge clump at long last  :)

our pond has only been built a few weeks and we have loads of frog spawn in it, Im so excited.
How long till they start to grow?
Going to get some piccys tomorrow.
Melanie :)

Normally not long but given the unpredictable weather who knows?

Our babies look as though they are ready to appear any second. Sorry to go off topic, but Grawrc, that avator of yours is scaring me no end! :o  busy_lizzie

Success  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

me too! the newts are looking enviously at the frog spawn as I write  ;D

The Frog Spawn Fairy has been !!!

Debs ;D

Got thousands of them swimming around  ;D

                          Regards,