First frogspawn

[WendyS]

Anybody seen any yet? I normally make a note in my diary every year when the first batch appears in my pond (which I must clean out quickly before the froggies arrive and turn it into a seething whirlpool).

[andyjevs]

None yet. I have a large pond (100' x 60') at work, a small 1,000 gallon pond in the front garden and a 3,000 gallon koi pond round the back and i haven't even seen a frog, toad or newt near the water let alone in it yet despite the mild spell.

When do you normally expect to see some spawn.....i would usually say mid feb to mid march depending on weather.

[WendyS]

I seem to remember it was quite late last year - around the middle of March as February was very cold, which probably kept all the frogs still hibernating.

[maggie01]

I haven't seen any yet but I only have a very small pond and it gets covered in it. Is this a sign the pond is healthy. ? I find it quite gross.

[WendyS]

Maggie - I get so much frogspawn in my tiny pond every year that the whole surface is covered with it and I'm forced to go knocking on every local neighbour's door who I know has a pond asking them if they would like some. They are usually in the same boat. I'm starting to be known as The Frogspawn Lady !! I get far too many tadpoles for my small pond to support so now if I can't get rid of the surplus frogspawn to neighbours I remove the later batches immediately and put it on the compost heap to give the earlier hatchers a better chance of survival. (And I top up their food supplies with boiled lettuce).

[Whickerman]

The Very first one?

[WendyS]

Whickeman - really? You've got frogspawn already and it's only mid January? Then we do have to take global warning seriously. Have never had it previously before mid February.

Don't know if the Springwatch website is up and running again this year when individuals log their first sighting of various natural events, but if it is, perhaps you should log your sighting there.

[burnhal]

The Springwatch website is running again this year so enter your findings!

I live in Luton- no frogspawn in the pond yet but saw the first awake frog in the pond last Sunday

[logman]

No sign of any in my neck of the woods yet, but i dont usually expect to see any until,after the first really wet night in march. Last year seemed a very poor spawning year in my locality. This year i'm hoping things will improve, especially because i have built a new pond in addition to my fish pond, thats soley for the bennifit of amphibians.

I shall keep the fish pond with a net stretched over it in the hope that they find the new alternative exeptable (fingers crossed)..

[maggie01]

WendyS. I have never heard of boiled lettuce. Can you enlighten me please? We get so many frogs in our pond it's a wonder there's any room for the fish.

[WendyS]

Maggie - I found this info on an internet site a couple of years ago when I had so many tiny tadpoles in my pond I was worried they would starve to death & I was trying to find out what additional food source apart from pond algae I could feed them with. This site recommended boiled lettuce leaves. I boil mine for 5 -7 minutes until they are really soft and limp so that the tadpoles can effectively suck all the green material away from the lettuce veins. I've tried various varieties of lettuce and found that cos & Little Gem are fine but the best variety of all is the "common or garden" round butterhead lettuce that we all ate as kids before all the fancy varieties were introduced. The soft leaved "cut & come" again varieties are also OK. Boiled spinach doesn't seem to turn them on though. Once they figure out they can eat it, you may find hundreds of tadpoles descending on the leaves. I give them a fresh supply every day & remove the white stems when the green parts are eaten to avoid them rotting & polluting the water.

[gudgeon]

yes saw some 2 weeks ago in a friends pond there was loads