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At last...

Printed From: Reptiles and Amphibians of the UK
Category: Herpetofauna Native to the UK
Forum Name: Common Frog
Forum Description: Forum for all issues concerning Rana temporaria
URL: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5203
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 12:03pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.06 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: At last...
Posted By: will
Subject: At last...
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2018 at 8:53pm
Smile Finally I got to see some action in my pond..   Sorry, that may sound odd, but I know I'm among friends Wink





Replies:
Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2018 at 9:29pm
Busy night!

Great photo - just wish I could get as close without them all diving off.


Posted By: GemmaJF
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2018 at 9:41pm
Wow, population looks like it is doing well Will. Thumbs Up


Posted By: will
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2018 at 10:14pm
@chubsta - they were very skittish til the first spawn was laid - I think Gemma mentioned a couple of days ago that they get so much easier to approach once the first clumps appear (at least in my experience too) - even if they dive they soon pop up, perhaps the feel/smell of the spawn has some overpowering effect on them!

@Gemma - I'm really pleased with them - the pond was dug around six years ago and numbers built up til last year when we had a really quiet year and I was afraid the newts had done their predictable work on the tadpoles and therefore recruitment into the adult population; but this year, I have counted c350 frogs of which around 150 are females, by contrast with past years when males have outnumbered females 3 or 4 to 1.  This is in spite of the cold winter and the ice that formed during the 'beast from the east' week when there were over 100 in the pond and I feared the worst.  Resilient wonders!


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2018 at 10:30pm
Amazing Will! Lucky you.
Have to say my frogs never lost their skittishness and dived for cover at slightest thing. The amount of tadpoles you'll likely get is going to be fantastic. Although I think Lalchitri is probably going to beat us all this time.


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Suz


Posted By: will
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2018 at 9:54am
Ah but I'd give plenty to have slowworms in my garden, Suz!  I think I'm going to have some very plump newts over the next few weeks...


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2018 at 11:33am
Will, what is the weed I can see in your pond?

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Suz


Posted By: will
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2018 at 1:51pm
It's just common or garden water mint, Mentha aquatica - the submerged form has rounder, lighter green leaves; by mid summer it will be rampant around the edges of the pond - it's what my southern hawker dragonflies use to emerge from the pond on.


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2018 at 11:15am
That's fantastic Will! You might lament the lack of slow worms but that's generally how it is all over isn't it? Often, where one type of herp is absent or rare, another does really well. If i target the flatter, more arable parts of Glos i don't expect to find much in the way of reptiles (aside from grass snake), but the amphibians are frequent, and it's generally the reverse situation for the hillier districts with rough grassland and old woodlands.

A work colleague reported some strings from south Wales a couple of weeks ago, but i spotted my first toad spawn in a Dorset Forestry Commission pond on 26/3/18.






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