| JANUARY: |
You
will find frogs in all sorts of places in your garden in January especially
where it is damp and dark. Some common places are: under the shed or any
outbuilding that is raised, in or under a compost heap, under any large
stones, pots or rubbish. If you surprise them they will either play dead
by keeping very still or hop away to the nearest shelter. Their eyesight
and hearing is acute and they will be avoiding you long before you even
see them. |
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| FEBRUARY: |
Frogs
always return to the pond of their spawning, rarely do they go to a pond
that they were not born in. Early in this month males will start arriving
and you will notice activity even if it is freezing. When the females arrive
the males who arrived early will climb on their backs locking their front
legs around the female. The front feet can grow spurs on the male so that
they have a better grip as this position can last a month. |
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| MARCH: |
This
weekend being the 12th March spawning has begun and there has been much
croaking and argy bargy in the pond. The water is full of couples and single
males. We have had one fatality so far with a dead female who appears to
have spawned and then been grabbed by three males who have suffocated her.
We removed the body so that the water would not become contaminated. The
pond is filling up with spawn but even whilst they have their minds on other
things it is almost impossible to take their photograph! If you are wondering
how so much spawn can come from a small frog, this is how. Once the spawn
has been fertilised, the outer jelly layer gradually expands to form a larger
protective coat.
One week later and only one or two frogs remain in the pond, all the activity
has gone and we now just have to wait for the tadpoles to grow. |
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| APRIL: |
All
is very quiet in the pond at the moment with only the spawn changing shape
and a couple of young frogs from last years spawn hanging around. Whilst
it is so peaceful, I took the opportunity to shore up the sides of my ponds
as they are rather old and neglected. The 4th of April seemed to be tadpole
day as they are now nearly all visible. The end of April is looming and
the sun is shining at last, our tadpoles are far more visible now with a
little more shape and size. |
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| MAY: |
Unfortunately
the sun did not last long and we are back at the beginning of May with cold
wet weather. The tadpoles continue to grow in size and their bodies get
fatter. 16 May sees the tadpoles sunning themselves near to the surface
of the pond, their bodies have doubled in size and their tails are still
in tact. |
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| JUNE: |
Its
now early June, have your tadpoles got back legs yet? Ours have and they
seem to be doing very well except there are far fewer tadpoles this year
than last. If you have found the same let us know. A new picture has been
posted above to show our tadpoles in varying stages of growth. Sunning themselves
on rocks and lilypads is their favourite pastime at the moment but there
are definate signs of jumping as they see you approaching. |
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| JULY: |
We
have no tadpoles left in the water in the pond at the moment they have all
dispersed themselves into the garden. Whenever I start to do any pruning
at low levels I always see one or two frogs out of the corner of my eye.
Since we moved here a year ago our garden has changed from being a dark,
damp, slug and snail infested paradise to a light, bright flowery spot that
is alive with bumble bees, little frogs, ladybirds and gradually birds.
Making a thriving natural habitat was our plan with lots of small dark damp
places for our big and little frogs, it has worked really well despite a
new puppy who was stomping about on all our little plants. Now all the plants
have grown there is plenty of shelter for all to share. |
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| AUGUST: |
All
is quiet in the pond now with only a few pond skaters and their offspring
rushing around on the surface. However I have spotted an albino tadpole
that does not seem to be fullfilling his adulthood, if I can sneak up on
him to get a picture I will. The coming months will now be a good time to
make any changes to your pond, we have a problem with the lining which is
leaking and the surroundings which are falling apart, so we are siezing
the opportunity to move and change the location but only within a few yards. |
