Anyone one else seen any frogspawn yet this year? I've just had a comment on our walk for last week, when I said I'd not seen any yet in the Dacres Wood pond, from someone saying there are four clumps in his pond and his neighbour's.
BTW - we're having a bird walk Sunday March 13th, starting at the reserve at 7.30, then going into Mayow Park, and finishing back at the Field Studies centre, where there are kettles to make some hot drings. Welcome to join us any time - I'll be tweeting from @dacreswood with #dacresmayowbirds to say what we see, and where we are.
Two very dead frogs in the garden and the garden pond is looking a lot murkier, like it usually does when things start getting 'active'. But no frogspawn yet.
I'm a bit worried as our frog population seems to have dwindled considerably over the last 4-5 years. Partly to blame: us. We tidied up a bit of the garden at the back a few summers ago which probably disturbed some of the little amphibians. Cats and foxes probably don't help (though neither of those is our fault). It's since then turned into something of a vicious spiral: fewer frogs, less spawn, hence fewer frogs the next year...
Our pond had a brief flurry of activity last Monday (as usual before we had got round to doing the annual clean), resulting in a single clump of frogspawn.
The frog population here is normally quite healthy, not unusual to see around 20 adults taking part in the main event.
A few days ago we had several large frogs cavorting in the pond and leaving four clumps (?) of spawn. Maybe it was the full moon that got them going. There was some movement today as well.
If it was the full moon, it was one which hasn't yet reached Dacres Wood. Alternatively, I wonder if the mallards, which may be settling, are feeding off it. Meanwhile, a bump here for our bird walk Sunday March 13th, starting at the reserve at 7.30, then going into Mayow Park, and finishing back at the Field Studies centre, where there are kettles to make some hot drings. Welcome to join us any time - I'll be tweeting from @dacreswood with #dacresmayowbirds to say what we see, and where we are.
Pretty sure to see Goldcrest. This silhouette is as good as I could get with my camera today,
but a birder tells me it's good enough for identification.
which mentioned frogs coming back to the pond where they hatched.
Cycling along Dacres Road yesterday morning, I noticed quite a few frogs squashed by passing cars, so I suspect there's loads more frogspawn to come in Dacres Wood pond. I guess I should have stopped to take a photo ...
And in case anyone is still wondering about what to do this afternoon - it's our first 'last Saturday' Open Day of 2016