I spoke too soon. I spotted the spawn and the next morning it was gone. No sign of it at all, so I presume it had been eaten by something. Cycle of life indeed. The spawn had almost definitely croaked.

I emerged from temporary gloom to find another blob of spawn, this time in Tiny Pond and looking a lot healthier than the blob in Lily Pond. Yay! Out came the camera and here is the evidence. But this morning this second blob had disappeared too. A puzzle.
So now I am on the case with my wildlife camera again. I’ve set it up beside Tiny Pond to see if I can capture any spawning action and any red-handed thievery. Watch this space…

