Knew we had them, seen them on other people's plots... saw my first on mine today... clearing under the hedge... put him straight back in an area I had dug..
Frogspawn.. had a clump in the pond a couple of days ago... but it seems to have vanished? The frost won't makke it sink will it?
:-\
newts & frogspawn!!!
Lucky you ;D
Two ponds in my garden & no frogspawn - did have newts last year but haven't looked this year
Debs
that's great news, haven't seen my residents yet this year (including the slow worms) :)
Don't worry about the spawn, it'll be OK as long as it doesn't dry out. It's so nasty tasting that things which eat frogs often leave the spawn. I've seen frogs spawning in ponds with ice on them; neither they nor the spawn is bothered.
Here he/she is in all its glory...
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/DSCN3530.jpg)
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/DSCN3529.jpg)
sat on a breeze block.. :)
Arn't they gorgeous ;D
He has a yellow tummy with dark spots... but didn't want to turn him over to get a photo! :)
Nice one, used to see them all the time 30 years ago
Not seen any newts yet in either pond but we do have tadpoles/diving beetles and duckweed!!
Saw newts basking in the sun yesterday and uncovered a slow worm - pleased to know I have my residents back :)
The spawn is now loads of tiny tadpoles...
some muppet keeps putting grown Koi into our sites wildlife pond.... >:(
definite Muppet!! Why don't people act responsibly..... grrrrrrrr.....
Does anyone want some newts? Counted at least 12 this afternoon and I know there would have been more hiding in the weed.
Loads of frog spawn laid and then hundreds of tadpoles hatched out. Now not one left for the third year running. They have all been eaten by the newts probably although I can't rule out the part played by dragon fly larvae and the great diving beetles.
Anyone any suggestions how to get rid of a lot of them, but as it is a wildlife pond not all of them.
How do you know it's the newts eating them? You've mentioned two major predators, after all. Do the newt tadpoles survive?
I wish I knew the answer Robert, it is disappointinting to see hundreds of tadpoles reduced to nil in a matter of weeks.
Yes, I have seen newt tadpoles in the pond and I can only assume that they reach maturity because of the number of adult newts in the pond. However, I cannot be sure because I have no way of checking.
I know there may be a couple of giant diving beetles in the pond and they are considered to be very aggressive predators.
A lot of dragon flies emerge each year so yes, the larvae must be potentially a major predator.
I have taken the precaution this year to put frog and toad tadpoles in separate mini ponds and hope to introduce them back to the main pond when they have nearly turned into froglets and toadlets. I am hoping they may be too big for the predators to eat, but we shall see.
Are you sure the tadpoles are all being eaten? It seems extremely strange that frogs and toads should be eaten, and not newts. I wouldn't necessarily expect that many to survive, but you could try playing around with a pond net and seeing exactly what there is in there.
There may not be many newt tadpoles, but they do exist. I haven't looked this year so far because they are not that easy to see, but will have a closer look over the next few weeks. This year unfortunately the frog tadpoles hardly had time to leave the spawn before they were eaten.
The toad tadpoles were acquired from another pond so they have been kept separate from the main pond and so far they and the frog tadpoles in their mini pond are growing well..
Just been reading about frogs and found out that only 5 survive to breeding age out of 2000
That's nature for you, sometimes good years, sometimes bad and that's the reason why amphibians have quite a long lifespan to cope with predation, drying out ponds, etc. One thing I've found through doing this as a job is it's often better to let them get on with it and they will find a balance themselves providing the habitat is ok.
Always had 2 frogs but this year hiding in the pump chamber were 4 frogs and a newt! Never had a newt in the garden, scooped out the frogspawn as it can`t be in there, put in tubs with bullrushes and giant iris in. they are doing well, wish I had written the date down they hatched.
Feeding them on powdered koi food and they go crazy for it. Just trying to up the survival rate a bit.
If they end up in main pond then they are history though.
I scooped this little one up the other day when removing duckweed.
[attachment=1]
I had a visit on Friday afternoon from a local council environment and nature chappie. Apparently an important population of endangered crested newt has been found in a neighbouring village and he wants to creat a corridor of sunny wildlife ponds every 500 metres or so to help them increase because where they are now requires night patrols to get breeders safely across roads to the pond.
We have a small, boggy paddock with a stream running down one boundary and it's apparently ideal for such a pond. Our riding school neighbours use it in summer for their retired horses and it gets no chemicals of any kind. No fish will be allowed though that hasn't stopped them being imported as eggs on the feet of birds who visit our own pond.
I showed him our pond which is unlined for draining our garden and he got very excited. I know we have frogs, toads and newts but not what kind. He's going to send a team to do a survey of what's in there and another team to help do the annual clearing of galloping iris and bullrush that try and take over and maybe deepen it to keep it pondlike for longer as it can go dry by the end of a hot summer. Doesn't harm the amphibians but we've found cooked small silver fish in bad years. Chappy said nature has a way of balancing out predators. It's already half empty now because we've had no proper rain since mid March but the May bank holidays are coming soon and it's bound to rain then.
sounds like an interesting project in the villages, let us know about progress :)
Will do but the mills of local government grind exceedingly slow and he has to get permits for change of use for any excavation deeper than 30cms so he has to go through processes. Apparently we should have done too when we had our pond excavated so he'll throw ours in at the same time. It's only been there 14 years..........
We have an ex farmhouse which was surrounded by pasture on 3 sides and a tarmac tractor park at the front so I did confirm I could change it all to garden when we bought it but no-one mentioned pond rules. Mind you, when chappy with the bulldozer came to scoop it out and smooth the remaining terrain he thought we were absolutely barking to pay someone to dig a hole for amphibians and have no plans for proper fish.
proper fish would eat everything! My Koi do!
I got rid of my fish because I wanted a wildlife pond and they ate the tadpoles. However now lots of newts, dragon fly larvae and great diving beetles but still all the tadpoles are eaten. I blamed the newts but I believe the dragonfly larvae are the major problem. I watched one of them stalking an insect sitting on the surface of the water and grabing it. Virtually nothing of any size in the pond and even toad tadpoles soon disappear. They are distasteful to newts but I have watched the dragonfly larvae eating them.