Naruto

Hi

Well I have even visited wildlife sites and there does not seem to be one acceptable term.

So we've got dollops, groups, deposits and from the wildlife sites we have clumps, clouds and batches?? 

Does anyone know Mr Attenborough's address??

Bazza 

Bazza wrote (see)

Naruto

Hi

Well I have even visited wildlife sites and there does not seem to be one acceptable term.

So we've got dollops, groups, deposits and from the wildlife sites we have clumps, clouds and batches?? 

Does anyone know Mr Attenborough's address??

Bazza 

I haven't seen our two frogs at all yet this year & I've never noticed any frogspawn in the pond although I did see the frogs sitting in there together last year, I think they may both be females though as they don't seem particularly 'interested' in one another! I thought I'd just put a link on here to the 'Froglife' website as they're sending out emails to remind people not to swap frogspawn between ponds as it can transfer diseases etc. from one place to another.

Don't swap frogspawn

SueA

Hi

My frogspawn has not increased in amount, and still no sign of mum and dad. Of course they could be hiding from me. This is how it was last year with no sign of mum and dad then the frogspawn disappeared.

I know about the no swapping spawn but it is questionable. Frogs don't always return to the place of birth like salmon do. Frogs and toads sometimes use the same pond to spawn and frogs and toads travel around a lot and so intermix ponds. The disease is similar to us catching a cold, you are either unlucky enough to catch it, wrong time wrong place, or you get away with it this time. It may be natures way of limiting the population. I have seen cats playing with them but the biggest problem for them seems to be birds who will peck them to death for the fun of it.

Bazza 

I know people have always swapped frogspawn between ponds but Froglife, the Wildlife Trust & others are just trying to raise awareness because there seems to be an increase in reports of frog deaths in recent years & what is commonly called 'red-leg' disease seems to be on the increase especially in the South of England (although apparently it's also been reported in Wales Bazza!) & also swapping spawn can also transfer non-native, invasive plants from one pond to another which they're trying to discourage. I think the biggest problem round here is probably cats pestering the poor things to death, I've seen ours sitting by the pots in the garden trying to reach round & catch a frog, don't think she'd know what to do with it if she caught one though! I bet herons take a lot of them as well, we used to see a heron sometimes sitting on the fence watching the neighbours pond (which is bigger than our tiny one) until he netted it over.

Hope your frogspawn manages to survive & develop this year Bazza!

Here's a link to a page about the frog deaths.

Frog Mortality.

Hi all

I got a trapped nerve in my shoulder and I could not do a lot, but its getting better now.

Happy to report that I now have swillions of tadies in my pond. Success at last. Small prob is that a lot of blanket weed is starting to form but I cannot take it out yet in case some tadies come out with it too. Ah well cant have everything I suppose. 

Bazza 

Hi Bazza nice to see you back,

That blanket weed might come in handy this weekend as it's going to be very cold, your little tadpoles will have somewhere warm to hide!

SueA

Hi

Missed your post somehow!. There is a lot of blanket weed in the pond now, but all the plants are coming in to flower. I can still see lots of tadies in there. I might try a small clean up but will have a large glass jar handy just in case.

Bazza 

Wyldeflower

Hi

I have had a pond for years but only had spawn for the first time last year. It all sunk without trace so I was a bit disappointed. This year more spawn and success. Mum and dad frog seem to have "hopped it" but there is a juvenile frog in there today. Could it be the baby sitter I wonder ??

Bazza 

SueA

Hi

Its hard to believe that we are almost in May, you know that time when everyone is dancing around maypoles in the hot sun!! Yea right. Still not much chance of the weather settling but I did hear it is supposed to start getting a lot hotter from this weekend. Dont think I will order the cold beer just yet though!!

Bazza