Frog Pond : 8 March 2024

Today was another ‘early’ spring day here and there was what they call ‘hazy sunshine’ : not a totally clear day but you can still enjoy the sunshine although the temperature is not that high either. My friend and I decided to go for a little walk nearby and came across a big pond. As soon as we approached we started hearing small splashes in the water : about 5 frogs got a bit startled by our presence.

The frog in the photo above jumped under the water and sought refuge under some half sunken logs. We both felt a bit bad about scaring the wildlife so we went very quiet and started trying to spot where to take some photos. There was not so much vegetation around the pond apart from the logs and a bit of pond weed floating in the water. I suppose that when full spring arrives there will be more coverage for the frogs so they don’t feel so threatened.

I’m really pleased with the photo above. I pointed the camera in the direction of where I saw some movement but I couldn’t see the screen so it was pure luck I managed to photograph that floating frog.

You could also see a lot of frogspawn nearby too. The full photo I took is below. I took a small ‘close-up’ of a section of the photo when I spotted the frog.

When I went back home I decided to find out how long it will be before we see ‘baby frogs’. This website highlighted the reason why there was so much frogspawn:

only around one in 50 eggs laid will survive to adulthood. This is because they are vulnerable to a host of predators at different life stages.

Another page on the same website explained that the process of hatching is not that long but it’s dependent on the water temperature and according to that we should be seeing tadpoles in about a month. Sadly the page doesn’t give a very precise timeline, and perhaps there isn’t one. My friend and I decided to visit that spot every so often to check on our shy friends to see how many have managed to survive.

The close-up below is not that clear but you may just be able to see the black dots in the frogspawn.

Thank you for reading !