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First frog spawn: |
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pauljc Member Joined: 18 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 4  View other posts by pauljc |
Posted: 18 Mar 2005 Hi, i came in yesterday and into my garden then i heard a rare sound... a frog croaking, i inspected the pond and 2 clumps of frogspawn were in! 17th March This mroning another 2 clumps arrived! 18th March I got some briliant photos of the frog croaking, close up's, how can i upload them? by the way... From Northumberland |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 18 Mar 2005 Hey that is great news we are still watching and waiting for our first frog spawn in our new pond, details of how to place pictures on the forum are at: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum_faq.htm Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 21 Mar 2005 I saw the first spawn of year in rural Durham yesterday, urban Gateshead was a couple of weeks earlier. Also a couple of male toads out as well yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few places in upland Northumberland and Durham where they still haven't spawned yet- there was still snow on the ground only 10 days ago. |
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peastick Member Joined: 21 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 4 View other posts by peastick |
Posted: 21 Mar 2005 Hi all, here in north Lincolnshire the frogs have been very active for several weeks. I have counted 22 frogs in my modest pond and I know there are others hidden from view. I guess there are at least 36. To date 10 clumps of spawn that is swelling up nicely. There is more to come too, judging by the 'embraced' couples. They are even into threesomes!. It is with regret that I found one dead frog, I assume the amorous males drowned her. It is the first fatality in 6years of having spawning activity, that I am aware of. My local park has seen a great influx of frogs though the pond area is not a good habitat for them. It is ornamental according to the council. No weed growth for the taddies and too open. Allowing local youngsters to collect frogs by the dozen. I know I could collect 50 or more in the space of half an hour. Several years ago I transferred spawn to the park pond and that resulted in it teeming with froglets, this year I am taking spawn out. It was extremely unpleasant to witness the local youths behaviour to our amphibians. Trying to educate them does little good and draws attention, relocation to the allotments is the order of the day. |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 21 Mar 2005 We finally got our first male common frog this season last night in our new pond in Essex. We have had lots of smooth newt activity since January, best newt count was also last night with 4 males, 5 females. I'm not sure if it was the weather here in Essex or the fact the pond was only built last year that has caused the late appearance of frogs, now fingers crossed for some females and mating activity :0) Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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pauljc Member Joined: 18 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 4 View other posts by pauljc |
Posted: 22 Mar 2005
Fred number 324 :) 
Fred number 324 with the future 5000 freds.. still to be named! - Overall pond, 5ft by 3ft, 3ft deep, quite small, some rocks have fallen off edge into pond during winter.. still to be picked out. 
Mid croak! 
Turned around, not croaking 
Cheeky croak ? :) by the way, i have now taken to removing the spawn from the pond as i discovered that snails eat it ?? ? ?, i removed some as the year before it had dispeared, there were some snails in and they did eat it. However now it is snail free and last year was successful ly hatched and returned to pond. |
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Mike Senior Member Joined: 15 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 74  View other posts by Mike |
Posted: 22 Mar 2005 Wait a few months untill the taddys are a good size and they will eat the snails !, they love them. We are still waiting for spawn, the frogs turned up in 1st week of February and immediatly started croaking and paired off, then weather turned colder and that put a stop to them. In the last few days they have started croaking again, but no spawn yet. Our local pond has literally hundreds of pairs and about 5/6 suqare meters of spawn, all in the warm weather over last weekend. Brickfields Park FREE 25th Anniversary Funday, 4th July 2010. Wildlife, Farm Animals, games, quizzes, refreshments and more. Fun for all. See - http://www.brickfieldspark.org/dates.htm |
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pauljc Member Joined: 18 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 4 View other posts by pauljc |
Posted: 23 Mar 2005 yeh, if you break the snails shell and and throw it in the tadpoles go crazy! :), anyway, i probally wont be able to reply to this thread for about 2 weeks, as i wont have access to the internet. btw - like the pics? :) |
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evilmike Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2004 No. of posts: 85 View other posts by evilmike |
Posted: 23 Mar 2005 snails are a very important part of the foodchain, and help remove the dead material or it will build up and no doubt pollute the pond, also snails will be eaten by many organisms. dry dog biscuits are useful to feed tadpoles, they feed around it and all push it about on surface, but a good pond will contain plenty of food for the developing tadpoles
the snails would most likely been feedin on algae upon the spawn or the jelly itself, theres plenty to go round :) Mike Lister BSc hons Ecology & Env management |
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pauljc Member Joined: 18 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 4 View other posts by pauljc |
Posted: 23 Mar 2005 true but theye WERE eating the frogspawn and even the live tadpoles.... anyway, i've noticed ramshorn dont do any damage, but great pond snails do |
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Mike Senior Member Joined: 15 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 74 View other posts by Mike |
Posted: 24 Mar 2005 In my instance I was referring to the common garden snail varieties. We have (or used to have) quite a lot of these but now we have Hedgehogs in the garden they keep them under control. We used to chuck them straight into the pond without crushing (they float) the taddys go crazy for them. We also have several varieties of pond snail, Ramshorns included, all coexist with the taddys and the newts quite well. Brickfields Park FREE 25th Anniversary Funday, 4th July 2010. Wildlife, Farm Animals, games, quizzes, refreshments and more. Fun for all. See - http://www.brickfieldspark.org/dates.htm |
- First frog spawn |