After a very chilly night we had some nice sunshine in the morning which sort of faded away by lunchtime. Once again temperatures were disappointing for the middle of March.
We've been keeping an almost daily watch on our pond waiting for the frogs to return and lay their frog spawn. We may have been a little bit lax in either noticing or hearing them but the frogs have arrived but not where you might expect.
The photo above shows their normal territory. I assume they enter the pond using the marginal plants at the ponds edge. They usually lay their frog spawn in the shallow areas in the pond where the blackbirds have created little patches of water among the weeds which the birds use for taking a bath. So far nothing.
Then we thought that perhaps they’d decided to use what Sue likes to call our puddle pond. We've inspected that and there’s no frog spawn in there either. We decided that this year the frogs must be late arriving or worse still they weren't going to arrive at all.
As it’s the first week that the council will collect our recycled garden rubbish this year, I decided to give our lawn a bit of a trim. I could just about manage to get the grass clippings into the bin. I set the mower on virtually its highest setting and began mowing. That’s when I noticed the frog spawn.
As I was mowing I was contemplating whether or not I was going to bother edging the lawn. As I mowed past the large plant pot saucers I had to have a second take. Was that really frog spawn I could see?
As you can see we've plenty of frog spawn in this saucer. Perhaps the frogs Sat Nav failed and they couldn't locate the main pond. There again maybe they’re expecting me to tip out the frog spawn from the saucer into the pond. Perhaps the frogs know that there will be enough rain to keep the saucer topped up with water although if that’s the case I don’t know what several hundred tadpoles will find to eat in a saucer of water.
So we’re trying to decide the best course of action for the survival of the frog spawn. I could simply add it to the pond but I know that will result in most of it been eaten by our fish. They treat it like free caviar. Alternatively I could keep the tray topped up with water, but should I use pond water or rainwater from our water butt. And what if they all turn into tadpoles. I’ll cross that bridge if it happens!
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A couple of years ago we were down at our local stream and pond and there was a lady putting in some frogspawn that had been laid in a waterlogged pot. It seems that frogs aren't doing a very good job of picking a good location!
ReplyDeleteStill haven't decided on the best option. Haven't seen or heard any frogs yet which is a bit odd.
DeleteAt least you've got that dilemma, I wish the frogs in my garden would spawn in my pond. I think it's probably the size of your puddle pond, very small, so I wondered if the size was putting them off, but now I've seen your saucer, obviously not.
ReplyDeleteIsn't wildlife wonderful. It just will not do what we want. I must admit I thought our puddle pond was too small but I was wrong about that too.
DeleteGlad you were able to find the frog eggs! I'll be waiting to see what happens to the spawn :)
ReplyDeleteWe're working on a solution as we are fairly sure the eggs wont survive where they are. Expect some blog posts.
DeleteI keep looking out for frogspawn in our new pond. We did get a few visiting frogs last year so I'm hopeful, but there's none yet. I do have a pot saucer full of water available (the birds use it as a bath) If they decide to use that I'll transfer it to the pond as I don't have any fish in mine.
ReplyDeleteHi Patsy
DeleteWe have a couple of blackbirds that use the pond for a bath. They prefer the pond to the two bird baths that we have in the garden. I'm hoping our birds don't decide to use the saucer as a bath until we've decided the best way of looking after the spawn.
The saucer could turn into a bird's feeding station if the tadpoles emerge in there. If there is any significant sun in the next few weeks, the shallow water in the saucer may get too warm for tadpoles. As there's a chance that some frogspawn will survive the fish, the main pond may be the best place for them. (A friend used to feed her fish with pond pellets so they would leave the frogspawn alone, but I've absolutely no idea if that works or not!)
ReplyDeleteI think we are coming to the idea that the best place for the frog spawn is in the pond. We're trying to think of a way of providing a physical barrier between the spawn and the fish as protection. Incidentally our fish get fed with pellets and flake but it doesn't stop them from devouring frog spawn. The fish make great efforts to launch themselves out of the water onto any weed supporting spawn and finishing off the eggs.
DeleteI suppose you could always raise the spawn schoolroom style in a tank (think large bucket or other container) somewhere sheltered and covered with mesh to keep out predators if outside. Maybe a cradle of enviromesh (or similar) sunk in the pond would make a separate hatchery area in the style of fish farms, although flying fish are pretty difficult to protect against !
DeleteGood spot for frog! But be careful or prediators
ReplyDelete