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the online meeting place for all who love our amphibians and reptiles |
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2017... and so it begins |
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Liz Heard 
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1323 |
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 Posted: 07 Apr 2017 at 12:29am |
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Hi Suzy
It's one of my favourite aquatics - beautiful and delicate (except when well- established) Water Starwort (Callatriche). Probably Common Water Starwort (C. stagnalis), but can't be sure since the tricksy Water Starworts require study to separate to species and i haven't done any homework! The taddies seem to like the plant too - i'll have to replenish it soon. 
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Liz Heard
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1323 |
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Posted: 07 Apr 2017 at 12:42am |
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Suzi
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Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1021 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 12:05am |
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Ah yes an attractive plant. I think I've mentioned I had it but duckweed managed to smother it out of existence.
I'm expecting to see the start of this year's growth of frogbit soon.
Edited by Suzi - 09 Apr 2017 at 11:26pm |
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Suz
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GemmaJF
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Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4312 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 3:31pm |
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Sad to report we have had a tadpole disaster, we think it was chemical spray form the neighbouring field.
The day before it was sprayed, I was watching thousands of tadpoles feeding at the edge of the pond. The day after spraying, the tadpoles seemed lethargic, then over a couple of days they started to disappear. Just a handful left alive in the pond. Wind was in our direction and I got a soar throat from the spray. Does make me sad that it is not just the arable fields that are wastelands, the action of intensive farming can affect nearby gardens too.
Edited by GemmaJF - 09 Apr 2017 at 3:32pm |
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chubsta
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Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 299 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 6:15pm |
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the fact that the tadpoles have died and you feel unwell would warrant further investigation i think, surely farmers aren't allowed to contaminate the environment to that extent? A quick phone call to the Environment Agency might be worthwhile, it wouldn't be the first time farmers have used illegal chemicals on their fields...
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GemmaJF
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Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4312 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 6:49pm |
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The chemical companies do the testing. Enough said regarding toxicity of their products! Very often they get sprayed at much higher concentrations than recommended or is legal also.
I do not tend to get involved locally, a hundred things I could drop our neighbouring farmer in deep water for, but they are neighbours at the end of the day and we have to live here and get on with them. I have high hopes that when our hawthorn hedge is mature enough it will stop a lot of the over spray, but it will be a couple of years before it has grown enough. I had to replace the old hedge because the farmer ripped it to pieces when turning a plough in the field, they caught some old fencing buried inside it and made a terrible mess of it.
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Suzi
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Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1021 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 9:00pm |
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Gemma, I am sorry to hear of the tadpole disaster. Hopefully some will make it.
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Suz
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chubsta
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Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 299 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 9:02pm |
Fair enough, it just gets to me that farmers and housing developers seem to be able to do what they want with the countryside. Hopefully enough tadpoles have survived that some will reach adulthood.
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Tom Omlette
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Joined: 07 Nov 2013 Location: Stoke on Trent Status: Offline Points: 444 |
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Posted: 09 Apr 2017 at 10:08pm |
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sorry you lost your taddies gemma :(
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GemmaJF
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Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4312 |
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Posted: 10 Apr 2017 at 5:40pm |
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Thanks everyone for your thoughts. It is Mervyn I feel for really, in his 70's now and a big highlight of his day is counting what he sees in the pond. There are a few taddies left, not many though.
I'll pump out the pond in the Autumn, do a water change and next year raise some of the tadpoles for longer. I was going to this year then thought they would be fine in the pond.  It just goes to confirm what I had suspected for years, intensive arable agriculture has wiped out common frogs from much of the wider countryside in East Anglia.
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GemmaJF wrote: