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frogspawn: |
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Jerry Senior Member Joined: 08 Jan 2005 No. of posts: 66  View other posts by Jerry |
Posted: 06 Feb 2005 HI to all, i have over ten clumps of frogspawn in my tiny pond in Bournemouth so if anyone needs any, you are welcome to take some away . jerry |
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TVFrog Member Joined: 18 Feb 2004 No. of posts: 31 View other posts by TVFrog |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 Hi Jerry, Thanks for the offer! - little too far for me. Are they still breeding or have the Frogs moved on? Just out of interest - are you in a rural or urban setting? No or little activity in Berks/Surrey as yet - far as I can tell.... Cheers, M. |
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Jerry Senior Member Joined: 08 Jan 2005 No. of posts: 66 View other posts by Jerry |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 Hi, yes the frogs are still breeding, i am in a semi rural setting (bet that doesnt help much) my pond will never sustain all this spawn, never seen so many frogs either!! jerry |
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Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 I think I am right, but according to Froglife' there is no such thing as too much spawn in a pond - and one should be more than cautious about translocating anyway. Tony |
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TVFrog Member Joined: 18 Feb 2004 No. of posts: 31 View other posts by TVFrog |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 Hi Jerry - South Dorest activity is clearly healthy, see also: http://www.phenology.org.uk/ Just look at the difference between that area and just a little further north - Hant/Surrey/Berks. Tony - yes, this is the advice from Froglife - unless the site is under some kind of threat. This is also, linked to preventing spread of disease, but there are some conflicting papers that also say there are benefits in removing some to a different area by spreading the "gene pool" (someone correct me if I haven't got this right). At least Jerry is semi-rural so one would hope less threat from traffic etc. - Enjoy having them in your garden Jerry! (nothing happening in mine (East Berks)...yet...!) Cheers, M. |
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Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 I think you are right indeed Tony. Jerry the theory goes that with the massive attrition rate of tadpoles each year you can never have too much spawn. Frogs will usually choose small ponds (thus avoiding fish and spawn munching Great Crested Newts) and it is not unusual for them to half fill a pond with spawn. By the summer there will only be a few tadpoles left to metamorphose when you consider predation by invertebrates, newts, faster growing tadpoles etc. I believe the translocation of spawn is still debatable, some will say don't do it because of the risk of spreading disease, others will say it is a good idea to introduce spawn into new ponds to help nature along, both by speeding up colinisation of new ponds and also to spread genes around a bit. I feel is best to err on the side of caution and only translocate within a kilometer or so of the original population if you are going to do it and then only to new ponds. ----RAUK e-Forum---- 
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Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 Posted at the same time as you I think M. at least we agreed!
we still haven't seen any frog activity here in Essex, but we are watching and waiting :0) ----RAUK e-Forum----
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Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 07 Feb 2005 Frogs were spawning in Ceredigion a month ago, up at Teifi Pools, Nr Tregaron; frogs were seen moving under the ice. Tony |
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Matt Harris Senior Member Joined: 03 Jun 2003 No. of posts: 196 View other posts by Matt Harris |
Posted: 08 Feb 2005 Frogspawn January 19th in Caerleon and February 4th in Abergavenny Gwent Amphibian and Reptile Group (GARG) |
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TVFrog Member Joined: 18 Feb 2004 No. of posts: 31 View other posts by TVFrog |
Posted: 08 Feb 2005 [QUOTE=Gemma Fairchild] Posted at the same time as you I think M. at least we agreed! á we still haven't seen any frog activity here in Essex, but we are watching and waiting :0) [/QUOTE]Hi Gemma, Thats OK!- yes we were coming from the same angle. Think you mentioned your pond is quite new. Ours is now in it's third year and we had some toadlets in yr1, so I'm hoping for at least a little activity this spring... We had a sole adult male Common Frog in residence all of that first summer - right up to October, but nothing at all last year.... I live close to Heathrow and, despite the many ditches/ponds/streams etc. in the area have observed *very*limited herp activity in recent years. This includes sites in and around Windsor Great Park. Unfortunately I think there may be slightly raised levels of pollution (aircraft emissions)that are impacting populations.... Interesting to see the Welsh activity, despite the low temperatures! (the airs much cleaner over there too methinks!) Wishing you luck with your new Essex pond! Cheers, M. |
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Gemma Fairchild Krag Committee Joined: 14 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 193 View other posts by Gemma Fairchild |
Posted: 08 Feb 2005 Yes, the pond is new, we built it just a little too late for the amphibian breeding season last year. We have had just two male common frogs for a short while last autumn, though I am still hopeful frogs will spawn this year. At least we will have smooth newts breeding this year, last night we counted two females and a male :0)
----RAUK e-Forum----
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TVFrog Member Joined: 18 Feb 2004 No. of posts: 31 View other posts by TVFrog |
Posted: 11 Feb 2005 Hi Gemma, It's gone even milder tonight - spot anything? It will even more interesting if the weather stays like this for a few days... Cheers, M. |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 11 Feb 2005 Hi M. Just got back in from looking, smooth newts and still no frogs. Your right it is really mild out tonight, maybe tomorrow :0) Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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