Days after spotting the legs (see Blog 86), I went out today to look for actual frogs as I hadn’t seen any for days. I figured that the hot weather might mean I’d see a frog basking in the pond, and there it was, a handsome specimen resting on a plant pot among the pond weed.
Then I went to look at Lily Pond and took a photo of the opening lily and another lily bud reaching upwards from below the surface.
I moved cautiously around to the other side of the pond to get a different view, stepping from rock to rock, landing on a big stone that wobbled under me. Thinking I could position it to sit more snugly between its neighbours, I lifted and turned it carefully. To my huge surprise, several tiny frogs jumped out of the way into hiding. I’d completely missed this stage of the metamorphosis! Here’s one that froze in view.
Finally, before heading back to the house, I checked Lion Pond, not really expecting to find any, because this is where I was observing the emerging legs. But surprise again, here I found plenty of tiny frogs among the pond weed and also an obliging little soul in the halfway froglet stage who stayed on my fingernail long enough for me to snap it.
FROG BLOG 