It’s the beginning of March and the cycle of life has kicked into action again. On Sunday 22nd February, with a slight warming of the weather, we noticed some activity in Tiny Pond and Lily Pond. Croaking could be heard and on closer inspection with the endoscope I captured close ups of underwater coupling. I also caught a newt in the endoscope light. Later that night I saw frogs on the surface by torchlight.
In Tiny Pond there was a lot of croaking going on that Sunday night. It seemed more like a boy’s night out though, because there was a lot of jostling and noise but no couples and, the following morning, no spawn.
By Wednesday 25th February, there were frogs everywhere. I nearly trod on one by the steps to the garage. Having stopped to say hello, I then saw the mate in the leaves below and six more in pairs huddled in a damp corner behind a rake.
I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t make it back up the steep steps to the pond, so I went out again later to investigate. Eight were now huddled on top of each other behind the rake, so I decided to help/intervene. I found some clean discarded bubble wrap bags in the garage and double wrapped my hands. Then I scooped them up gently and carried them to Lily Pond. They all plopped in gently, one by one. Much croaking ensued.
Later still, I captured these frogs by torchlight in Lily Pond and Tiny Pond.
By Saturday 28th things became quieter. I could see large clumps of spawn in both ponds and a few frogs with heads above water seeming to be fairly relaxed about me taking pictures.
There didn’t seem to be any action at all in Lion Pond, so I was very happy to see my old friend appear again in his usual spot by the victorian edging stones. And, because there were huge clumps of spawn in Tiny Pond, I moved one over to Lion Pond to even it out a little. It will be nice to have some tadpoles in Lion Pond because I can see that one clearly from the house.
Since this flurry of activity, there hasn’t been anything particularly exciting to report. Yesterday, we had some rare sunshine, so I spent an hour cleaning out some of the sludge at the bottom of the ponds, ready for all the tadpoles to make more. Always careful to rescue any hidden wildlife among the decaying leaves, I found a newt and about twenty tiny pond snails. They went back in the pond and the sludge went into the soil nearly in case I’d missed anything. Now we wait for the tadpoles to emerge and I wait patiently for another sunny day so I can try a first cut of the ragged lawn.
FROG BLOG 