Walsall Wood Snow

Have had sleety showers here on and off with sunshine in between all afternoon. The latest just ending now, which contained a few big snowflakes. No accumulation though however and would have to be pure snow for that and even then would have to be very intense. Glad to see WillinGlossop has had a slight covering but his elevation is around double mine. Quite a mixed Spring we're having though it is unusual to get wintry precipitation this late in April which we also had a week ago last Saturday as well. Meteorological Summer is only 5 weeks away tomorrow as well.

Just had a brief light graupely snow or soft hail shower (not sure technically which) here a few minutes ago.

Many of my tadpoles have started to swim around the pond now independently that have lost their external gills, though there are plenty still at the early stage that are still in clusters and have external gills that are slightly younger. There seems to be a lot still despite the newts, which makes me wonder whether they actually bother eating them (though they could be predating on them modestly). Whats amazing though that they are new life which a few weeks ago didn't even exist. I'll let you know when they get a bit bigger and hence more distinct.

There was a tiny bit of lying snow here when I got up at about 8:00 this morning. Just a bit on car windscreens and a few spots on our lawn. Didn't see it fall though or know whether there was a more even covering before I got up. Still I was very surprised it happened and didn't expect to see any snow at all know until Autumn at least. It's not often we see snow this late after Winter, in fact I think this is the latest snow I've seen since 2008, which was also in April (though that was much more substantial), but I think that was earlier in the month than this?

Noticed the odd newt in the pond over the last few days. They usually arrive after the frogs have departed but stick around for much longer and are more aquatic in nature. They're undoubtedly feeding on the newly hatched tadpoles but tend to leave them alone as they get bigger I've noticed. They're of the 'smooth newt' species and they are the most common species of newt in Great Britain. Other native species are the 'palmate newt' and 'great crested newt' the later being the largest and also most rare. In fact they are endangered and have protected status, meaning it is illegal to disturb them. I don't think they tend to visit garden ponds though and are only found in the wild at a select few protected sites.

Frogspawn is hatching now with tiny tadpoles clustering and wriggling on the surface of the jelly, which they are feeding on. They always look strange at this early stage as they've got no eyes and have external feathery gills. They'll soon grow bigger though and their external feathery gills will disappear, they'll develop eyeballs and they'll start to swim around the pond. I'll let you know when they do.

It's very rare for toads to breed in garden ponds. They are far more selective about where they'll spawn than frogs and more prone to only breed in the same body of water that they in fact developed as tadpoles themselves, whereas frogs seem to be far less selective and will spawn in any pond in their range, which is why they colonize most man made garden ponds. Toads also tend to spawn in larger and deeper bodies of water such as very large ponds and even lakes, reservoirs and even sometimes canals, frogs on the other hand prefer smaller and shallower ponds. Also unlike frog tadpoles, toad tadpoles taste very unpleasant to fish and they're more likely to avoid preying on them so toads can afford to breed in the natural large water bodies whereas in the natural world frogs will spawn in the much smaller and temporary ponds where there would be little chance of fish preying on them (this is of course determined by natural selection and for this reason garden ponds seem suitable for them even though many people keep fish in them, but in the natural world ponds of similar size are unlikely to contain fish). I too have seen the odd toad in my garden but they've never used the pond to breed. Although when I first had a pond about 16 years ago I did take a bit of toadspawn from a big pond at a local nature reserve (which is difficult to handle due to its stringy nature) in an attempt to introduce them and I did have some toad tadpoles result from it (they're distinguishable from frog tadpoles as they are jet black whereas frog tadpoles are brown with little golden speckles), but they didn't seem to develop or if they did they never returned to breed as adults. Though about a couple of years ago there was a female toad in the pond during the breeding season but it was the only one and there were no males to breed with her and in fact a male frog was on her back anyway. She left without spawning anyway (though it would have been sterile if she did without a male of her own kind to fertilize it) and was probably just passing through. Interesting that you mention black frogs in your pond. The common frog comes in many colours from brown (the European brown frog is another name for the species) to grey to green to yellow to orange but black individuals are apparently more common in Scotland than anywhere else. Red individuals have also been reported there more so than elsewhere. Which gives the Scottish common frog population a degree of exclusiveness.

Even more frogspawn now. There's got to be 4 or 5 clusters with more to come as there are other females with males on their back still yet to spawn.

Though all the frogs in our garden ponds will undoubtedly be the 'Common frog' species, they are not the only frog species which is native to the British isles. Though very rare now and restricted to a small number of locations there is also the 'Pool frog' species: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_frog# It's quite a striking variety with green skin with dark blotches. It hasn't always been considered a native species, but is now considered to be so. The 'Common toad' isn't Britain's only native species of toad either. There is also the now endangered 'Natterjack toad' which is also the only toad native to Ireland (common toads aren't to be found there and if they are they will be human introductions). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natterjack_toad

Yes this happens in my pond too. There have been frogs in my pond for weeks now but so far only one female has spawned and there are others still yet to. But every year seems to be the same with frogs arriving in early March (the first one or two in late February really) but no spawn until towards the end of the month. Yet in the nature reserve not far from here spawning just seems to occur overnight or at the very most within a short number of days, with them dispersing as soon as they've arrived. I don't get it. Still it gives me a chance to see any of the mature breeding adults for an extended period because the rest of the year I'll only see the odd one now and again and only during warm spells, when they obviously come to keep cool and wet. You've got to wonder where they all go to and how far away it is.

Got my first blob of frogspawn in my pond today!

I can't say I know actually. I'm sure there are people on this forum who know how and why it evolved though. I wasn't even around then as it happened 10 years before I was born, but I have heard about it. I don't think it was a nationwide event though and I'm not sure whether it even affected my area.

When it snowed then.

I know despite the SSW, that a cold spell as major as the last third of March 2013 is looking unlikely. But surely we could still get a snow day (perhaps even a blizzard) if things fall into place. After all we had settling snow in the night (though the Sun got to work on it the next day) in April 2008. There are of course examples of snow occurring in April in other years such as 1981 and 1989 and not to mention as late as June in 1975 (though that was an extreme anomaly). What's interesting though that all those examples (with the exception of 1981) occurred following mild or very mild Winters (not that I'm suggesting they occurred because of that, just that its obviously not impossible for such to happen despite that).

Went for a walk at a nature reserve near me called 'Shire Oak Park' today. Many years ago it was a quarry, but when the work ended the council turned it into a nature reserve. There are a number of pools and ponds in the area and it was the first place I saw a frog as a child, as far as I remember when we went for a nature walk at School. Anyway there's already a fair amount of frogspawn in the different ponds. The only frog I saw though was a dead one unfortunately but I did see a bit of movement beneath the spawn in one pond which I assume were frogs. Still no spawn in my pond yet and today was another day it was iced over. There are frogs in there though but they probably won't breed until the temperatures pick up, which should be soon.

Yes it's certainly felt quite chilly today, despite the sunshine. I imagine if we had the synoptic of today a few weeks ago we probably would have recorded an ice day. Saying that my garden pond has been iced over all day and it only began to thaw at the edges towards 4 or 5ish.

I hope so nobble. If there's one poster on this thread who deserves a break its Summer of 95 and the Shropshire contingent in general.

Adding to my previous post, the image I refer to may have been taken in front of the bridge at Coalbrookdale and I'm getting confused? But I wouldn't know now without going back and looking again, which won't happen any time soon. Anyway I just tried to search for the picture on Google images, but I can't find that particular one. There is an image of a woman with a pram on the frozen river with Coalbrookdale bridge in the background taken some time in the 1920s apparently and another with loads of people skating on the ice at the same location taken in 1891. So I'm starting to wonder whether the picture I saw at the museum was Ironbridge or Coalbrookdale bridge?

As I say they were photographs not paintings and the one of the people standing on the frozen River Severn would have been at Ironbridge because the bridge is directly behind them. The pictures didn't have descriptions as they were high up around the walls of the Brist Hill Victorian museum gift shop above the items displays. But I'm guessing that it would have been taken some time in the late 19th or early 20th century (though if I had to guess I would say possibly some time in the 1890s, perhaps Winter 1894/95 (which was apparently severe) as I don't think there were really many or any Winters in the early 20th century cold enough to freeze the river so hard). It certainly looked like (by the quality of the image and the fashion of clothing) it was taken in that era anyway. There were other snowy scened photos as well such as an old one looking down from high ground on a village or town (possibly Ironbridge) with snow capped roofs. And that other one I mentioned which was in colour and taken on a snow covered day within the museum, which showed a horse and cart walking along and a couple of Victorian dressed volunteers, and as I say to guess would have been taken in the the late 70s mid 80s (maybe more recent than that, but I doubt it judging by the quality).

Been at the Blist Hill Victorian museum and then Ironbridge all day and there was a brief light shower of graupeley stuff there. That's in Shropshire so it seemed the infamous Shropshire snow shield gave way if only for a moment. I wonder if any of the Telford members saw anything or Summer of 95 in Shrewsbury (though I believe that's a bit of a distance from there). I noticed in the gift shop there are some old photos of the area lining the walls and a few of them show snowy scenes. One in particular shows people standing on the frozen river with the bridge in the background, probably taken some time around the late 19th/early 20th century judging by their dress. Another one was taken in the museum and was in colour and judging by the quality of the image I would guess it was taken in one of the late 70s to mid 80s Winters, possibly as late as 1990/91. Just goes to show that Shropshire can get snow and sub zero conditions at times. Though it's true that recent Winters have been poor all over the midlands (with the Peak Distict doing better than the rest), Shropshire in particular has been worse than anywhere, judging from the members who live in that county at least. Anyway I do hope this was the last of the snow drought Winters for them and that next Winter will give all of us a good dumping of snow. And may the River Severn freeze solid too .

Just got up and no sign of there been any here. Did any settle? Maybe it was very localised and despite you been quite near it hit you and missed here?

I've heard this said a few times and to be honest I'm not so sure (with regards to white Easter's been more frequent than white Christmas's). From personal observation I have seen snow (falling or lying) on Christmas Day a few times. Falling: 2001 (it did settle but it was only a brief shower so left nothing more than a few specks). Falling and settling: 2004 (with the bulk being in the evening, but there was snowflakes blowing around in the day). And lying: 2009 (when there was a bit of residual stuff in odd places left from the 23rd, but unfortunately it thawed on Christmas Eve) and of course the deep lying cover of Christmas Day 2010, which was deposited with the falls of the 18th and the much heavier one (here at least) of the 22nd. Snow on Easter Sunday however is something I believe I'm yet to witness and I'm 31 at the end of this month. You've got to consider also that Easter unlike Christmas is a festival that moves around the calendar from between late March and late April which makes this assumption hard to nudge conclusively. Of course earlier Easter's such as the one this year are statistically more likely to have snow than those that occur in late April, but even then the chances of the synoptics been conducive enough are still fairly slim. They're still slim of course in the short days/ long nights period of the 25th December, but for some reason (even though deep cold at that time is relatively rare in the British Isles) snow does seem to have been more frequent on that day in the last 15 years or so than the none existent records of snow on Easter Sunday. In fact when was the last time there was snow then? I imagine you'd have to go back a long way to find an example. Though of course I'm not rubbishing the possibility as indeed we have had snow in early Spring in recent years such as this week even and the epic March of 2013 and also in April in 2008. I'm just pointing out the lack of snow on Easter in recent years compared to Christmas. I'd much rather have snow at Christmas anyway been as snow has a strong association with then, whereas Easter has more of a pleasant and sunny day with new life emerging kind of theme.

I was hoping to go to the Peak District today to see a decent cover of snow for the first time in three years. Unfortunately I don't drive and it would have meant one of my mates taking me there. Much to my dismay though the only two who could are both busy today and I can't go tomorrow either because we're going out for Mother's Day. Looks like its going to be at least four years between seeing a decent cover of snow for me then. That only depends on whether we get a better Winter next time round. Though to be honest it's a decent layer of snow in my back garden and the surrounding area I want, not to have to go traveling to the Peak District to see such. Besides it shouldn't matter now, Winter's over it's now Spring. As for Winter 2015/16 good riddance to bad rubbish. And that applies to the two Winters that preceded it too. Only 9 months to go until Winter 2016/17, I do hope it gives all us snow lovers a break.

Any chance of any more before morning? After all it must be colder now than it was during the day, which would make any precipitation less marginal.