Frog chorus

[Johnny Appleseed]

The pond was alive yesterday with a massive ball of mating frogs - and tonight they are providing a frog chorus in the middle of the night. Shades of Paul McCartney LOL

3 great balls of spawn appeared in the shallow edges yesterday but where do they all appear from?

Rebbit rebbit.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Just had a quick look in the pond - all the frogs in the shallow edges hopped and splashed for cover - but there are now 5 big balls of spawn.

One ball of spawn is completely submerged by about 20mm - all the others are at or slightly above the water line.

A quick count of disappearing frogs into the reeds indicated there were at least ten of them visible.

Do frogs have orgies and love-ins? Groovy Baby

[IgglePiggle]

Ten frogs! How big is the pond?

[selfraising]

Oooh how exciting!! I'm thinking I may have to go down and check my pond out now!

Last year our top count was 14 frogs 4 newts and our fish, oh and two pond snails!

[lynda66]

gutted i so want frogs, but we have none round here, i'm debating trying to find a pond with some spawn in, but i'm not sure if that is legal

[selfraising]

Why don't you dig yourself a small wildlife pond? They are attracted to the smallest amount of water and once they know, you should get them every year! My pond isn't huge, about 1m wide by 2m long. Dug it out myself as hubbie not able to, so if I can do it!!

[crichmond]

Saw a frog on the allotment yesterday looked really fat so wondring if it was full of spawn.

[digthatchick]

gutted i so want frogs, but we have none round here, i'm debating trying to find a pond with some spawn in, but i'm not sure if that is legal

Sorry to say Lynda, it's not legal. Well not from the wild, but if you have a friend that has a pond with spawn in then that's ok.

All the frogs in our neighbourhood gather in our pond to mate but they all spawn in next doors pond

[lynda66]

Why don't you dig yourself a small wildlife pond? They are attracted to the smallest amount of water and once they know, you should get them every year! My pond isn't huge, about 1m wide by 2m long. Dug it out myself as hubbie not able to, so if I can do it!!

i have had a pond for 4 years, we just have no frogs lol ........ theres no ponds near us, so they don't come all this way for a visit

[lynda66]

Sorry to say Lynda, it's not legal. Well not from the wild, but if you have a friend that has a pond with spawn in then that's ok.

All the frogs in our neighbourhood gather in our pond to mate but they all spawn in next doors pond

i thought that might be the case ........ anyone wanna be my fwend and spare some frogspawn?? lol

[Johnny Appleseed]

Ten frogs! How big is the pond?

It's a kidney shaped, hand dug, butyl lined pond. Approx 1m wide and 3.0 m long by 1m deep in the middle. It was only a rough count as all the frogs hopped off in different directions but I'm pretty sure it was ten.

It's a real wildlife pond (my excuse anyway).

We do very little to it apart from thinning out the plants and lilies and we get so many visitors to drink it is amazing.

Wagtails bob and rock their way around it; magpies menace anyone in their way and even fly in to dip bread in the water to soften it; blue tits fly off with bits of dry grass and balance on the reeds at strange angles; sparrows, starlings and thrushes descend in groups; robins race in and out; pigeons waddle around it; they all have big splashy baths in it; the pigeons leave a big white dust film behind them on the water (looks like talcum powder) hedgehogs amble up to it and we have even seen foxes sipping from the edge early in the morning on more than one occasion; dragonflies hover over the water and settle on the lily leaves and after a long, energetic run our dogs make a beeline for the pond for a long cool drink at the edges - although on hot days, Ella our young bitch just leaps in and puts her head totally under the water. When she emerges, she is "smiling" from ear to ear (dog lovers will know the expression I mean) and her whole body is wagging with pleasure.

Last year, Ella left one of her tennis balls in the water, trapped on a ledge between the roots and I saw a blue tit on top of the ball stripping it of its yellow fuzzy coat and flying off with clumps of bright yellow fuzz it in its beak. Must have been some bright man made nest lining.

It may not look much, it is overgrown but provides lots of cover and shelter, the brick path around the edge is breaking up as tree roots are reaching out for the water and lifting the bricks, and Ella, bless her, has made a small hole in the liner after she decided to have a fight with a fold in the lining material and she won.

The tadpoles used to get eaten by the fish; the fish were reduced in numbers by our local heron and so the cycle goes.

We gave up restocking with fish; didn't like netting after a pigeon got badly tangled in it and drowned; so after all the fish went, we just left it as a wildlife pond. There are many water snails and beetles in it. One year we had some crested newts but not since.

At the weekends some humans are even known to sit next to it just making time to "stand and stare" and relax around it fascinated by all that is happening in this neglected but very busy, pool of still water.

This year the frogs appear to be very active - but how many tadpoles survive I'll never know.

I have to be careful cutting the lawn near the pond as the little golden bronze, thumbnail sized frogs are everywhere once they decide to explore away from the pond.

[IgglePiggle]

The only wildlife I get is cats! I would love to have a pond, as yours sound brilliant! But my garden is on a hill, that and I've got a 2 year old, maybe once she's older