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Frogs and Other Amphibia 2016


frogesque

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

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.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

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.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

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.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

All tadpoles are now big enough to swim around the pond now. They've also all got eyes and have developed they're colours, which are various shades of brown speckled with gold. They'll just grow bigger now until they're ready to start metamorphosis. That'll be a few weeks at least yet though.

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Posted
  • Location: Fettercain/Edzell
  • Location: Fettercain/Edzell
6 hours ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

All tadpoles are now big enough to swim around the pond now. They've also all got eyes and have developed they're colours, which are various shades of brown speckled with gold. They'll just grow bigger now until they're ready to start metamorphosis. That'll be a few weeks at least yet though.

Hi WWS, I've been following your tadpoles' life story:) .

I have had a barrel pond for three years, (Mr ciel won't agree to excavating a proper pond), but never had any spawn.  I have built a ramp for access to the pond and I do come across frogs and toads in the garden. The pond is planted a miniature varieties of waterlily, iris and rushes.

Any advice as to how to encourage amphibians?

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
On 08/05/2016 at 17:54, ciel said:

Hi WWS, I've been following your tadpoles' life story:) .

I have had a barrel pond for three years, (Mr ciel won't agree to excavating a proper pond), but never had any spawn.  I have built a ramp for access to the pond and I do come across frogs and toads in the garden. The pond is planted a miniature varieties of waterlily, iris and rushes.

Any advice as to how to encourage amphibians?

If there are frogs in your area, it's a mystery they haven't yet used your pond to spawn in yet? Although they may next year or beyond. I personally introduced spawn myself originally from a  variety of sources such as a couple of family friends garden ponds as well as a couple of natural ponds for the first couple of years of having a pond about 16 years ago. However i've since learned this isn't apparently recommend as there is a risk of spreading diseases such as red leg (a fatal disease for frog populations) so I don't recommend it. Maybe it's too small for them, or they simply have yet to notice it? As there are already frogs about though there stands a good chance they'll use it to spawn eventually (though a bigger pond would probably boost your chances. Have you considered a prefabricated pond?). Just see what happens next year for now though would be my advice.

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Posted
  • Location: Fettercain/Edzell
  • Location: Fettercain/Edzell
37 minutes ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

If there are frogs in your area, it's a mystery they haven't yet used your pond to spawn in yet? Although they may next year or beyond. I personally introduced spawn myself originally from a  variety of sources such as a couple of family friends garden ponds as well as a couple of natural ponds for the first couple of years of having a pond about 16 years ago. However i've since learned this isn't apparently recommend as there is a risk of spreading diseases such as red leg (a fatal disease for frog populations) so I don't recommend it. Maybe it's too small for them, or they simply have yet to notice it? As there are already frogs about though there stands a good chance they'll use it to spawn eventually (though a bigger pond would probably boost your chances. Have you considered a prefabricated pond?). Just see what happens next year for now though would be my advice.

Thanks for your reply, WWS.

I'll carry on with the barrel pond, but might look out for, in addition,  a larger container with a greater surface area such as an old sink for next year.

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Noticed a tadpole in my pond today which has developed its back legs though most appear not to have reached that stage yet and some are quite small still (Peter Pan tadpoles is a term i've heard used to describe such tadpoles). There could be more but they're a bit difficult to observe at the moment as the water is very green and as happened last year  duckweed has coated most of the surface. Removing it is a losing battle as it multiplies very quickly and by doing so you unwittingly remove many tadpoles with it. Nevertheless if that one tadpole is anything to go by, they're on their way to becoming froglets. I'll keep you updated on further developments.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Had a more intense look in my pond today and it seems quite a few of the tadpoles have now developed their back legs. Some are just budding whereas others are fully formed. Only a matter of time now till their bodies become more frog like now I would have thought. There are still newts in there as well. Unfortunately there are only very small gaps in the duckweed coating the surface now. The only way to remove it without removing tadpoles is by hand which takes a long time and even then it re-multiplies in a matter of days at this time of year. I tried netting out what was left from last year in February before the frogs came to spawn but you can't get every last little bit out and there only has to be the tiniest bit for it to take over come the Summer. There never used to be any either and how it got there is anybodies guess. It could have come stuck to the legs of an heron possibly. It's only a small pond as well so it can cover the surface in a matter of a few days and I'm not prepared to spend countless hours removing it. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a fish pond as I could just net a load out in minutes, but been a nature pond and more specifically a pond for amphibians the tadpoles are constantly at the surface so you have to be very careful whilst removing it and a net just won't discriminate between duckweed and tadpoles. It's a right headache really. If only there was something that would kill it off without damaging anything else. Maybe a December 2010 cold spell would do the trick but I've only had the pond since 2014 (it replaced a much bigger pond I had since 2000 but was filled in as the liner was spent and would no longer hold water, so I filled it in and put a  smaller prefabricated pond in the middle of where it was) and the stuff only first took over last year and been as Winter 2015/16 was so mild it may have helped it hold on?

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Just seen an adult frog popping its head up in my pond. The first time I've seen one in there since the breeding season. What with the tadpoles swimming around in there it's remarkable to think it looked just like them some years ago. I hope some of them get to its stage in life too. Though its a fact that only a minority of tadpoles reach its stage of maturity, though with many of them now with back legs surely some will.

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

Well this year the tadpoles have survived in two ponds the other they'll have been eaten by the goldfish. First time for some time they survived. Previous years they disappeared totally without trace by this time. So going raise some new frogs this year.

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

Re duck weed. I may have found a cure for it inadvertently. Blanket weed was a severe problem this year. Due to mild December it was growing like mad . Normally I have none until the frogs spawn and then it grows like mad. Don't bother with Barley as it doesn't work you just end up with blanket week on that as well. This year I bought a product made by clear waters. Boy this works no blanket weed at all. However the duck weed has also mostly gone. Lillies and other pond weed is thriving now so it maybe worth trying a little of that and see what happens.

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Posted
  • Location: Dorset
  • Weather Preferences: warehamwx.co.uk
  • Location: Dorset

I saved my tadders from the big pond and put them in a smaller pond back in the early Spring, but I thought the spawn had gone rotten. 
A few weeks ago I cleaned the little pond out (as it's supposed to run in to the bigger pond via a pump) I found hundreds of tadders! They've lost their tails and gained good use of their limbs, as dozens of them were hopping around the garden after that thundery plume we had last week.

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Posted
  • Location: Haute Vienne, Limousin, France (404m ASL)
  • Weather Preferences: Warm and sunny with night time t-storms
  • Location: Haute Vienne, Limousin, France (404m ASL)

Thought you might like to see my tadders from two weeks ago - I expect they'll be hopping about now. I'm going to have a look at the weekend. The first one is in the main lake, and the other two are in the smaller overflow pond. I love the way they hang on to sticks and leaves floating in the water with their mouths.

IMG_1731.JPG

IMG_1746.JPG

IMG_1749.JPG

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
3 hours ago, Spikecollie said:

Thought you might like to see my tadders from two weeks ago - I expect they'll be hopping about now. I'm going to have a look at the weekend. The first one is in the main lake, and the other two are in the smaller overflow pond. I love the way they hang on to sticks and leaves floating in the water with their mouths.

IMG_1731.JPG

IMG_1746.JPG

IMG_1749.JPG

Do you know what species these are? Been as your on the continent these could be another species than the Common European frog, which are all you get here. 

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Although I'm not completely sure I thought I saw one tadpole in my pond today which is almost a froglet. It was just poking up on the duck weed and its body shape seemed very frog like yet it still had a full tail. I only saw it briefly though because when I approached it slipped back underwater (and hence the thick coating of duck weed) so I couldn't tell if it's arms had developed. I suspect they had though so I imagine a greater number will be seen in time and from there fully formed froglets which will start to land on the lillies and outside the pond. I'll keep you informed as I do.

Edited by Walsall Wood Snow
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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

Not ready yet here but changing in one pond. The large pond probably a month away.

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Posted
  • Location: Haute Vienne, Limousin, France (404m ASL)
  • Weather Preferences: Warm and sunny with night time t-storms
  • Location: Haute Vienne, Limousin, France (404m ASL)
15 hours ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

Do you know what species these are? Been as your on the continent these could be another species than the Common European frog, which are all you get here. 

I don't know yet WW. When I get froglets and frogs I'll take some photos of them

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
22 minutes ago, Spikecollie said:

I don't know yet WW. When I get froglets and frogs I'll take some photos of them

Thanks Spikecollie, I'll look forward to that. Just like to confirm from my post yesterday that some of the tadpoles in my pond have indeed become froglets. I saw 3 or 4 hopping around atop the duck weed this morning. They've still got their tails but these will be absorbed shortly. The adult I reported earlier ad it's head poking up as well and there are still newts in there which I see slithering about from time to time, so it's amphibian city in there at the moment.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Have seen many more froglets (still with tails) this evening. What's amazing is if you see my post at the top of this page from 13th April I was reporting then how the frogspawn was just hatching and on the previous page I reported my first blob of frogspawn on 21st March. That's only about 2 and a 1/2 to 3 months ago. It's amazing how quickly they've developed. It's been a 3 or 4 years since I've had any success with them. Last year they just seemed to stay as tadpoles right into the Autumn, without legs or anything except maybe a couple and then just disappeared for some reason. I wonder why last year and this year are so different? Good to see they're doing well this year though.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
2 minutes ago, Nouska said:

This evening, I watched the gruesome spectacle of a grass snake trying to swallow a rather large frog. Wondered what the strange noise coming from the pond was and went to investigate. The snake was on the bank, trying to drag the frog out of the water - it gave up on that and slithered into the water to disappear under the water lilies, still with the frog firmly in its jaws.

Maybe that will be the solution to the noise problem of all these bloody pond frogs.

Well that's ashame for the poor frog, though it's just the workings of the natural world. I've never actually seen a grass snake though there pretty rare these days in the UK I think and there probably more likely to be seen in National Parks than the suburbs. I don't know what species of frogs you've got there in south west France though the Common frog is a fairly quiet one which tends to have a purring type of call rather than the classical ribbit type sound you hear on cartoons and such (though apparently this stock sound effect comes from frogs in North America and is why this sound is ingrained in our heads during childhood of how a frog should sound) . I don't know why they would be making so much noise at this time of year though as it's only males which make any noise in order to attract mates during the breeding season in order to attract mates, unless it's a species who's breeding season is around now, although I haven't heard of a one which breeds this late in the year. Though they could be doing it for territorial purposes I suppose.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
40 minutes ago, Nouska said:

This lot are very noisy all summer and as we have three large ponds for water collection it is quite a chorus all day and night. They breed very early and are surprisingly quiet at that time.

Video taken elsewhere.

 

These look like either Marsh frogs or Pool frogs to me which are collectively part of the European green frog grouping, whereas the Common frog belongs to the brown frog group which both belong to the  Latin termed 'Ranidae' or true frogs as opposed to tree frogs, or true toads 'Bufo Bufo' and such. The Pool frog does exist in the UK but only on one site in the Breckland area of Norfolk where there is a conservation scheme. And I posted a Wikipedia link about them on the previous page. Your right though they are noisy.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
18 hours ago, Nouska said:

I had a look back at your earlier posts - lots of interesting facts there. :good:

Searching on Planet passion - my go to nature bible for all the new species I meet here - seems I have a range of frogs in the ponds but looking at the illustrations and descriptions, the most prevalent are the edible and Perez frogs. They live in the water all year round and venture out just to sun themselves on the banks.

http://www.planetepassion.eu/amphibians-in-france/Perez's-frog-France.html

There's also newts, toads and salamanders in the ponds for spawning - it's a busy place even though there's a large number of fish in there as well. 

Seems to be a much broader variety of frogs and toads and newts/salamanders in France than the UK. Seems like we got a pretty bad deal here in comparison. But being as were living on an island I suppose much less got settled here before Britain went from being a peninsula to an island. I imagine the species we have got such as the Common frog, Common toad, Natterjack toad, Smooth newt, Palmate newt and Great crested newt, as well as the now restricted population of Pool frogs migrated  this far west and north before that happened or maybe there used to be a greater variety that have since died of but because we're cut of from mainland Europe by the sea those previous populations couldn't be sustained?

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Saw two tailess froglets in my pond today. The transformation is complete. Though there are plenty of others still to catch up.

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