I noticed in the pond today mating frogs - is this early?
WOW! it would be for mine!
Think mine normally start in March, (will be interesting to see if they find our new pond this year ;D ) but it has been unusually warm this so far, wonder if they will produce spawn.
This is always interesting to watch.....and to add to! ;D
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/springwatch/ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/springwatch/)
Any....time......any......place.....any.......where 8) ::)
yes i know ....GET YA COAT :-X
Mine are usually March too DP but I noticed activity of some sort today. I wouldn't have any worries about them finding your new one. I dug a new pond last autumn and my biggest frog leapt in before I'd even started filling it, slithering down the liner, where it had to stay for the rest of the day until the pond was filled. ;D
Geoff.
I heard them croaking this morning for the first time this year!
TTFN Lesley :)
I looked out of my bedroom window this morning and there was a lot of activity going on in the pond. With my binoculars I saw about 20 frogs. Thinking it would be a good idea to take a picture, I grabbed my camera and walked very slowly towards the pond. Unfortunately they saw me coming and all disappeared. They had made two lovely tapioca puddings though. ;D ;D
I remembered that I had posted about frogspawn last year and looked it up.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/smf/index.php?topic=17105.msg176217#msg176217
They are almost three weeks earlier this year.
I haven't seen any frogs in or near my pond since the one that my cats liked to play with died.
They must have brought him in through the catflap at least 5 times.
My goodness a wee bit early. Ours was March last year, but I suppose it is not surprising with all this mild weather, though we expect much colder weather next week, so winter could still be on its way. Have cleared all of our ponds out so we are ready for them when they do start. Thanks for starting the thread Okra. Shall we keep it going like we did last year, so we can keep track of them? ??? busy_lizzie
Crikey that is early for frog spawn! :o Hope we don't have too many cold days to kill them off! Would you try and retrieve the spawn and put it somewhere warmer or just let nature take it's course?
I left it last year and it survived some very severe frosts so I will not be moving it. We had thousands of tadpoles nevertheless and that is probably after the fish and the birds had enjoyed their fill.
oo, this is so exciting - we dug our pond in the summer and came across three juvenile frogs late last year so we will be waiting with baited breath to see if we have some new guests this year.
saw a small one the other day when i pulled a plant out. my spawn was miles behind every one elses last year as my pond doesn,t get much sun but i had loads of froglets every where ( next door wouln,t cut his grass because it was alive with them) so i suppose it dosn,t matter
Checked the pond this morning. . .not a frog in sight. Haven't heard them at night either. Usually they decend on the pond in their hundreds. Last year they even spawned in a fold in a tarp I keep over the bikes. They found a bit of water in there at ground level and it was full of spawn. Late frost probably halved the spawn then. Transported one frog to the allotment on Friday in amongst a bag of leafmould. He/she was a peculiar colour, yellowish orange, bloated and lethargic. Sign of getting 'in the mood'?
Was surprised to see our frogs 'at it' this morning ;D Very early for spawn though, hope it survives the cold weather to come :-\
It is still too cold for ours - not one in sight. But don't they have some sort of antifreeze ability, so they can easily defrost once the weather warms up and they are perfectly alright? Our frogspawn has frozen and gone on to produce loads of tadspoles before. :) busy_lizzie
No signs of any activity in our ponds as yet.
We have a small 'wildlife' one and another larger one beside it which has carp and goldfish.
Last year they spawned in the bigger pond.
Debs :)
Two days ago I thought I would take a look in my new pond. Lo and behold 2 lots of frog spawn! Yesterday they would have been covered by the snow we had, hope they survive.
Noticed the frogs are active again today - thankfully they have survived the ice and snow
We have got 2 ponds, one with fish, a fountain etc but no frogs. The other one is left as a "wildlife pond"
When I looked this morning there is spawn in the wildlife pond and very active frogs :o but nothing in the other pond. So from this I hope they are appreciating our hard work from last year in building them their own pond ;D
I am in the far south west, with no snow or ice.........yet ;)
I went down the lottie yesterday and I have frog spawn already ;D
I have one resident frog - I know he's around somewhere as I see him a few times each year - but no spawn on my pond. I think the fish would eat it anyway, so I try not to mind too much :(.
Tricia
Saw the first frog in the pond this morning - well they could have been there before and had been missed -but no frog spawn yet in this Essex pond!
Definitely some frog lurrrrve going on in my neighbours garden yesterday. She was shocked!
Still no sign of any frogs in our ponds yet. They are being very cautious up here in Whitley Bay, perhaps we are going to have more bad weather. My sister down in London however has said they had lots of frogs in their pond. busy_lizzie
Three frogs in the pond this morning - two very busy and one left out -anyone know of a frog dating service!!!!!
omigod. i thought it was too early (never had frogs before) so i read this and went out and checked and no spawn yet but plenty of frog lovin' going on. wow. spring.
:) We found one hopeful frog on his way to our pond last night, at the bottom of the steps. Husband now fretting about his goldfish being molested!
We heard a frog calling at the weekend so took the mesh covers off the pond just in case he needed to jump in quick as an escape route. I guess his calling was answered, there's a good half pint or so of spawn right in the middle of the pond attached to some floating aerating plants.
I suspect the male was our resident frog who lives round the back of the monolith water feature, but it's definitely earlier than last year, the females didn't appear for at least another couple of weeks.
We haven't got any yet. We found lots of frogs in the undergrowth before we cleared the plot, but they've not been seen since. I hope I've not scared them off for good.
Quote from: legless on February 21, 2007, 13:36:09
omigod. i thought it was too early (never had frogs before) so i read this and went out and checked and no spawn yet but plenty of frog lovin' going on. wow. spring.
I did a double take when I read this and wondered if you were THE legless. So I looked at your profile, and lo and behold, you are :D [/stalker]
oh dear. hi Laura, where are you stalking me fro? ;D
Quote from: legless on February 22, 2007, 09:13:55
oh dear. hi Laura, where are you stalking me fro? ;D
I'm a hitcher, mainly a BT-er though ;)
aaaah.
nice cat by the way. nice to see you over here
Well they found the new pond, with erm a little help from me and a bucket! :-\ Was sorting out the back of the garden yesterday and the poor female was staggering around with this bloke hanging on to her, looked like a bad date at 2am! So I helped them continue their amorous attachment by putting them in the pond, he must have been an OK frog cos they left me some spawn!
And got a phone call from my neighbour who had found a load in a trench he had dug, so thats gone in too!!
HORRAH!
Where do they all come from?
I was up early this morning (4.30ish, couldn't sleep) and just could not believe the noise coming through the kitchen window. The frogs' croaking pretty much drowned out the birds dawn chorus!
I sneaked up on the pond and managed to count 3 pairs amorously entwined, and another 8 or 9 single frogs before they all disappeared, I'm sure there were more that I didn't get to count. I'm beginning to worry that the plants will be overwhelmed with spawn before they've had a chance to grow properly and therefore won't make such a good display this year.
Any advice?
i haven't got any spawn yet, but there's been several 'couples' sighted over the last 3 days. am i being impatient? do they practice first?
We have lift off in Whitley Bay. Frogs swimming around the pond this morning. No orgies happening yet or big bellied froggy ladies, but at least they are back and earlier than last year. :) busy_lizzie
Have only seen one lonely frog in our pond and none of that froggy vocal noise.
Haven't heard the frogs, but my goodness they have been busy! Three lots in a new pond and one lot in the established pond. Neither will last long with the amount of fish in both! Should I move the spawn to the wildlife pond?
Gardenqueen, Yes I would, as they will be nice tasty bites for your fish.
The ponds are alive with the sound of music in my garden tonight. The frogs are making that lovely deep resonating sound that they make, so I guess they are all at it again, and it won't be long before we have lovely clumps or spawn everywhere. :) busy_lizzie
Opened my front door to taxi daughter to her mates, and there sitting on the cill was a beautiful froggy.........tried telling him/her the pond was in the BACK garden! And of course no camera to hand when you need one! ;D
Daughters mate said I needed to kiss it, I replied, sorry already found my Prince! (bleahhhhh) And you know what they say, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the Prince! ;D ;D
Was a lovely looking froggy tho ;D
When I went to my plot today I heard a funny noise and then realised it was coming from next doors bath which is full of murky green water. There were five frogs and loads of frogspawn. I have never ever seen this happen before so it was fascinating. One frog looked as if it had been hugged to death though.
My nice clean mini pond hasn't got any spawn in it. Do they prefer green water?
Fingers crossed I,m hoping this is my 1st piccy
I,v done it ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
I,m happy I,m expecting taddies and I,m so happy I,v finally managed to put a
piccy on a forum I,m on a roll now there will be no stopping me
margaret ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Well done with the photo - I haven't got as far as sorting out how to take them let alone put them on A4A. Anyway - down to the lottie this morning to find that the frog spawn has arrived in my part of Essex!
Lovely pics! We have lovely big clumps of froggy spawn in our first pond and we have action in the second pond so well on the way now. :D busy_lizzie
Watch them if you have fish. One of mine were blinded in one eye last year, Caught one on a fish today. If they grab them round the gills they are gonners.I had to get the fish out in a net and pull the frog off. Apparently they are short sighted and the males get that excited they just latch on to anything that passes their way. (typical) lmao
Agree with Shirlton,
I don't have fish for that reason (only a smallish pond).
This year, I have more frogs than ever before. Problem is - they're thrashing around & trashing the spawn that's already been produced.
And they're still sha**ing!!
Same happened to me.....well my fish, last year, had to pull an amorous frog off one of my very confused looking big fish! The fish survived, but maybe now has a frog phobia! :o ;D
Shirlton and Tellboy......ROFL!
Even more frog spawn in the pond this morning and the three frogs seem to be in the same position as yesterday - I feel sorry for the one in the middle!
Frogs have been very quiet, but obviously been 'at it' very actively because at least six clumps of frogspawn.
Toads have made a little more noise but not very much. At least four lots have spawned, one is in the process of spawning today and one pair waiting to spawn.
Surprised they have spawned so close together as usually a couple of weeks apart.
I thought I had got rid of the fish but they must have bred because there are little ones that will have to go.
Anyone want some small fish?
Not spotted any spawn yet but they were at it on Monday and Tuesday when I went past so I'll be surprised if there isn't any!
::)
we've got our first dollop of spawn in the pond, I'm sooo excited.. ;D ;D
taken today by my brother
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/169/408807185_13d489a3fb.jpg?v=0)
I love the effect of it,s head poking out of the water frogs fascinate me I could watch them for hours
margaret :-*
Quote from: theothermarg on March 03, 2007, 18:02:00
I love the effect of it,s head poking out of the water frogs fascinate me I could watch them for hours
margaret :-*
yep I could watch them for hours as well, wildlife is fascinating
What a great pic Simon! I love frogs too, and I am often out at our pond seeing what they are all up to. When the weather gets warmer I usually go around with a torch to look for them in the garden and find them in all sorts of funny positions. busy_lizzie
b_l,
You 'flasher' you!
I have frog spawn in my new pond today too, poor pond is all bare, no plants in it yet either. so am 'well chuffed'
Spotted my frog spawn today, its possible its been there a few days as ive not been able to check due to the commitments of the real world :)
Ive just looked back on last years thread and I noted my spawn on April 1st last year, so its a fair few weeks earlier this year :)
checked the pond yesterday at the lottie and we have frog spawn ! yehhhh. Also got three frogs in the pond. Got some pix - just need to make them smaller so I can post them.
yikes.... err, now there are 9 frogs ! One of them let me stroke his leg this afternoon.
QuoteOne of them let me stroke his leg this afternoon.
You should have tried kissing him, you never know........... ;D
cj :)
loads of frogs, loads of amplexus, no spawn, i may have a tantrum soon.
I have tadpoles now but then I was one of the first to get spawn. ;)
I have taken some photos but cannot reduce them to the right size for posting. I haven't got all the programs back on my computer yet after OH rebooted it when a virus got into all the exe. files. Hopefully he will add the program for me this evening.
Here is the picture of some of the tadpoles. There must be thousands. :o :o
Good Grief!!!!! Must get to the lottie and check on mine.....lol ;D
At least I'm not the only one inundated with Tadpoles I seem to have millions and the pond is a teaming with them. Just hope the cats don't get at them like they did last year!
Better get on with making a hidy hole for them all!
Lucy
<throws self on floor and starts kicking and screaming at sight of tadpoles, slyly peeking out of one eye to see if anyone has noticed>
The family of the foxes on the lottie site go round eating the tadpoles and the onion sets apparently. Will wait and see what happens to mine
We now have tadpoles. They weren't there yesterday but this morning - TADPOLES!!
I`m green with envy-I`ve just got a new pond but the grass snake problem has wiped out all the frogs in the village.
We assumed there would be a `natural balance` but it`s been 4 years now and still no frogs or toads-my garden used to be alive with them :'(
this morning there is spawn. seems my frogs just wanted to get to know each other properly before rushing into things.
I am getting very jealous,how big a pond do you need to get frogs and will they come if you build one Jeannine XX
Last spring I built a pond that is 6feet long, 3 feet deep and 3 feet wide. My son in law brought in a bucket of tadpoles from his grandma's pond and they lived happily in there. was a bit worrie din case they didn't come back as there are no plants or anything in there. So am well pleased. Plants being delivered next week so they will have something to eat.
Quote from: Paulines7 on March 14, 2007, 22:49:25
Here is the picture of some of the tadpoles. There must be thousands. :o :o
I would cover the pond if you havent already, blackbirds eat tadpoles like sweets.
jeanine i have a tiny pool it would be a metre square if it wasn,t roundish!! the first spring i saw just 3 taddies that was 3 years ago quite a decent clump now just growing tails my small garden was covered in small frogs last year all different shades of green and brown none red or orange have you seen tims pic!!
i don,t have fish which i,v heard eat them
marg
my pond has been frozen quite a lot recently - do you think that the frog spawn will have survived ?
Marg, thankyou,I just might have a go now, I love frogs,next door has a pool of fish but never heard a frog, mind you his fish are a foot long . XX Jeannine
:D :D :D for the first time since the Pond was created in 1992, I have frog spawn. Meet one happy bunny, but I have very BIG fish. Bet they eat the spawn or the tadpoles. >:( >:( >:(
Simon that picture of the frog is great, It is smiling ;D