All getting ready to leave!: |
Author | Message |
AJfr0ggy Member Joined: 08 Aug 2003 No. of posts: 28 View other posts by AJfr0ggy |
Posted: 22 Jun 2004 All the toad tadpoles in my pond are getting close to leaving the water, and have congregated in several groups... Theyre proabbly all left now, as its been raining for a while AJfr0ggy |
Alan Hyde Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 1416 View other posts by Alan Hyde |
Posted: 23 Jun 2004 Cool. I love the feeling as I see another years young frogs successfully develop and leave my pond . With all the development, bad heathland management , fires etc it's nice to think ,"well , at least i've helped these little fellas on their way". Cheers, Al O-> O+> |
Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 23 Jun 2004 Great stuff! We spotted 3 of our toadlets yesterday (yes I admit I was doing my own bit of habitat destruction to the clover by our pond with a pair of shears at the time), but it is nice after spending the morning at a building site :0( ----RAUK e-Forum---- |
Donny Senior Member Joined: 11 May 2004 No. of posts: 53 View other posts by Donny |
Posted: 23 Jun 2004 I visited one of my favourite ponds the other day, and the ground around the edge was like a moving carpet of toadlets...just waves of them leaving the water...quite an amazing site really, but what happens to all the little blighters? |
Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 24 Jun 2004 Hi Donny, Well most will be eaten I guess, though the mortality rate for toadlets is much lower than that for tadpoles, so these are the lucky ones. It amazes me sometimes that any survive as they look so vunerable, though some of ours are now double the size they were just a few weeks ago. They will disperse away from the pond in time to foraging areas, though I often find toadlets still quite close to the margins right up to hibernation at sites with good ground cover near the pond. ----RAUK e-Forum---- |
AJfr0ggy Member Joined: 08 Aug 2003 No. of posts: 28 View other posts by AJfr0ggy |
Posted: 24 Jun 2004 I was out looking for toadlets today, beside a lake which is only a couple of minutes walk from my house. In the place I saw the swarms last year, there were few. I went round the other side of the lake, and notice on a small dried mud path, lots of dead babies. I saw a few crossing the path. under the long grass beside the path, there were loads of baies. I looked around the rest of the lake, none, and retuned to the place, walking into the long grass a bit, seeing a few, but not many. Then i came to an grass-covered mole hill. amazingly, it was covered in a huge group of baby common toads. amsolutly awesome sight. It was like a circle, 8" in diameter, a couple of toads deep, solid with baby toads. I regret so much, not taking a camera! I guess there were at least 500 toadlets, probably over 1000. Almost unbelievable. They all scattered at my sight! AJfr0ggy |
Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 24 Jun 2004 Awwww what a shame no camera! I think toadlet hunting has to be one of my favourite things, I'll have to get to a good pond tomorrow :0) ----RAUK e-Forum---- |
Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 27 Jun 2004 Jim Foster has sent in these amazing pictures of mass toadlet emergence at a site in Norfolk. They illustrate well the "carpet of toads" that people often describe. (they take a while to load but I didn't want to loose all the detail)
----RAUK e-Forum---- |
AJfr0ggy Member Joined: 08 Aug 2003 No. of posts: 28 View other posts by AJfr0ggy |
Posted: 28 Jun 2004 Wow, looks amazing. the ones i saw were fully terrestrial babies AJfr0ggy |
Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 15 Jul 2004 I saw a few toadlets this morning up here in Co. Durham, first I've seen this year. Not a vast number, but plenty more to come! |
- All getting ready to leave! |