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frogesque

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

It's that time of year again when a young frog's fancy turns to ... well ... lady frogs!

Our garden pond hasn't got any frogspawn yet but there is a mele of bodies and legs lurking in the shallows so it should be any day now given a bit of milder weather.

Anyone else expecting or, indeed, have had a happy event?

Edited by frogesque
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Posted
  • Location: Bognor Regis West Sussex
  • Location: Bognor Regis West Sussex

It's that time of year again when a young frog's fancy turns to ... well ... lady frogs!

Our garden pond hasn't got any frogspawn yet but there is a mele of bodies and legs lurking in the shallows so it should be any day now given a bit of milder weather.

Anyone else expecting or, indeed, have had a happy event?

Sadly the spawn never had a chance in our pond with loads of carp, Koi and goldfish. Nevermind, this Spring we are building a wildlife pond and the fish had to go. Must find somewhere to get some frog spawn from. By the way, do tadplole interfere with newt young?

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

Our pond has a balance of goldfish (3 generations, last years are about 5/8" long) and frogs/taddies. Goldfish don't really seem all that interested as long as they are well fed untill the taddies emerge. After that it's every man for himself.

We do have loads of rocks both in and surounding the pond which creates lots of hideyholes. Survival of the fastest :lol:

Regarding newts and frogs. Newts are really carniverous and are much more likely to thin out the frogspawn and taddies than the other way round. We don't have newts though but quite a large predator of the taddies are blackbirds. They stand at the pond edges and just pick them off!

If you have a nice pond it shouldn't be necessary to stock it with wildlife. The wildlife will find it soon enough and reach its own balance. That way you won't introduce disease into the pond from different sources - Red Leg is currently a huge problem for frogs and highly infectious.

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Posted
  • Location: Bognor Regis West Sussex
  • Location: Bognor Regis West Sussex

Our pond has a balance of goldfish (3 generations, last years are about 5/8" long) and frogs/taddies. Goldfish don't really seem all that interested as long as they are well fed untill the taddies emerge. After that it's every man for himself.

We do have loads of rocks both in and surounding the pond which creates lots of hideyholes. Survival of the fastest :lol:

Regarding newts and frogs. Newts are really carniverous and are much more likely to thin out the frogspawn and taddies than the other way round. We don't have newts though but quite a large predator of the taddies are blackbirds. They stand at the pond edges and just pick them off!

If you have a nice pond it shouldn't be necessary to stock it with wildlife. The wildlife will find it soon enough and reach its own balance. That way you won't introduce disease into the pond from different sources - Red Leg is currently a huge problem for frogs and highly infectious.

Many thanks for the rapid reply and the info on newts. I ask because a freind has 3 sorts of newts in his dad's garden so we were thinking of introducing some. I would far rather have frogs because of the way they decimate the slugs. my garden has too many. <_< We do though have loads of slowworm in the garden that should do that job. Frogs sadly disappeared two years ago, no doubt because there was a serious outbreak of the frog disease you mentioned. They do seem to be recovering in many areas in Bognor now though. The pond we had was deep but steepsided but after 15 years the lining has given up and we had to remove the fish rapidly when the water level dropped drastically.

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Posted
  • Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snowy winters, hot, sunny springs and summers.
  • Location: Runcorn, Cheshire

LOADS of frog eggs here.

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Nothing in my ponds yet, seen some bubble coming up from down below, so I assume there are frogs at the bottom. My ponds have no fish in them as I have decided to have a wildlife pond, but I did see something swim away from the shallows on the weekend, not sure what it was.

Hoping for something soon though.

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Posted
  • Location: Orleton, 6 miles south of Ludlow
  • Location: Orleton, 6 miles south of Ludlow

Nothing here yet at all. Generally, we start to see and hear things on mild nights and days after the first week of March.

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Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

We've only just put in a small wildlife pond due to having a small garden. We will be buying some pond plants this week to encourage allsorts of wildlife through the seasons. We had frogs in the garden last year without a pond, so looking forward to seeing a few this year too! The female blackbird is hanging around the pond alot and having a drink now and then. I just cant wait to see the various types of wildlife our little pond will attract through the year.:)

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Posted
  • Location: Near Romford Essex.
  • Location: Near Romford Essex.

Nothing in my ponds yet, seen some bubble coming up from down below, so I assume there are frogs at the bottom. My ponds have no fish in them as I have decided to have a wildlife pond, but I did see something swim away from the shallows on the weekend, not sure what it was.

Hoping for something soon though.

Nessie perhaps,(big pond)? :D

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Nessie perhaps,(big pond)? :D

Nessies mini cousin perhaps

Edited by SteveB
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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

Quite frosty last night and we had a little ice on the pond this morning and despite a beautiful sunny day the frogs have disapeared back to the murky depths. Looks like it'll be a chilly night again so I doubt if we will have any spawn by morning.

Glad to hear other folks are making their own ponds. Large or small it doesn't really matter, birds, frogs and wildlife generally will find it a magnet to visit for both feeding, breeding and water.

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Posted
  • Location: Wotton-under-Edge, S.Gloucs
  • Location: Wotton-under-Edge, S.Gloucs

There are 3 'courting' couples in my pond and about 5 males milling around. They were quite active a couple of days ago when it was warmer and lots of calling. But they are now quiet and I don't think they will be spawning until it warms up again.We also have a couple of newts in the pond.

Herons are the worst around here, will eat the frogs and the fish if they can get to them. We have a metal grid over our pond and it seems to deter them.

But our neighbours ponds on either side get decimated almost every year and it all happens early one morning!

I can usually tell, as we don't see the fish for a few days as they are terrified.

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

I am wondering if the cold weather has killed of my frogs, the pond was frozen over for many days, if not weeks in December.

I have got a frog house near the pond, and also some dead wood piles scattered around, I am just not seeing anything frog related at all. Could also be the neighbours cats killing them I suppose.

Edited by SteveB
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Posted
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......
  • Weather Preferences: Hot & Sunny, Cold & Snowy
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......

Have faith Steve! I picked up a yearling in the first 'warm day' of january (reserved all used up) and he's lived with us since (on baby brown crickets) and he'll be ready to go back out come mid march (we're quite high here). The other Frogs have been out over that 'warmer spell' a week back so some have made it through. If you've held onto the cold weather then they'll still be buried at the bottom of the pond, in the cracks in the rocks or some such. I'm sure if you want to help you can google the best food to 'plump them up on' come their 'wake up time' (the ones I handled during their recent 'singing 'were very emaciated).:drinks:

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Have faith Steve! I picked up a yearling in the first 'warm day' of January (reserved all used up) and he's lived with us since (on baby brown crickets) and he'll be ready to go back out come mid march (we're quite high here). The other Frogs have been out over that 'warmer spell' a week back so some have made it through. If you've held onto the cold weather then they'll still be buried at the bottom of the pond, in the cracks in the rocks or some such. I'm sure if you want to help you can Google the best food to 'plump them up on' come their 'wake up time' (the ones I handled during their recent 'singing 'were very emaciated).:drinks:

Hopefully they are still around, had plenty last year, both frogs & toads. Some must have survived.

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Posted
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.
  • Weather Preferences: Anything extreme
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.

No frog activity in my pond yet but a friend who lives down in the valley has pond which resembled a Roman orgy a few days ago, although the recent cold weather has cooled their ardour a bit; about a bucket full of frog spawn in the shallows too.

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

There's been no overnight ice on the pond for a couple of days and it's been a bit warmer today with some decent sun this afternoon and the frogs are back in shallows. Plenty of activity with males desperate for the best clinch. Still no spawn though, maybe over the weekend if the weather holds. :mellow:

Update: 10.00pm. Much croaking round the pond tonight :lol:

Edited by frogesque
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Posted
  • Location: Orleton, 6 miles south of Ludlow
  • Location: Orleton, 6 miles south of Ludlow

Had the first bit of frog noise and calling last night, but no spawn this morning. Maybe the sudden cool end to the night dampened their passion? Last year, we had our first frog spawn on 13th March, so looking similar for this year.

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

Had the first bit of frog noise and calling last night, but no spawn this morning. Maybe the sudden cool end to the night dampened their passion? Last year, we had our first frog spawn on 13th March, so looking similar for this year.

Still no sign of frogspawn here either, not surprising really - we woke up to this!

pond.jpg

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

... and then we had rain. Snow's all gone and this afternoon we have our first 3 big globs of frogspawn. :yahoo: 2 pairs at it that we know of and I dare say the rest will be joining in soon.

Edited by frogesque
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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

Still no frogspawn here, parents up the road from me have some.

I fear something has gone badly wrong with my pond. I've seen one little frog in my small pond, but nothing in my bigger pond.

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Posted
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W
  • Location: Kingdom of Fife: 56.2º N, 3.2º W

That's really sad SteveB. Hopefully things will recover in time but if we continue to get really hard winters you may have to consider deepening your pond.

We now have loads of frogspawn and we had a little choir of 12 frogs poking their heads up into the sunshine this afternoon. Listening at the door they are still going under the very bright moon. B)

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Posted
  • Location: Orleton, 6 miles south of Ludlow
  • Location: Orleton, 6 miles south of Ludlow

Frogs seem to be finished now. Looks to be about the same as last year — difficult to tell really. I was concerned that some would have not survived winter, but there must have been 30 frogs in the pond at one stage, equally numerous as last year. Does anyone know if toads spawn later than frogs — I though I saw a couple of toads in an embrace today?

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Posted
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......
  • Weather Preferences: Hot & Sunny, Cold & Snowy
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......

Ours started to spawn on the night of the 18th (my birthday!!) so a late prezzie for me! I wonder if they waited for the moon?

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

That's really sad SteveB. Hopefully things will recover in time but if we continue to get really hard winters you may have to consider deepening your pond.

We now have loads of frogspawn and we had a little choir of 12 frogs poking their heads up into the sunshine this afternoon. Listening at the door they are still going under the very bright moon. B)

Seen some frogs at last, found four in between the reeds.

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