First frog spawn of 2008

Few events can herald the arrival of spring like the appearance of frog spawn. Our pond received its first clump of wild frog spawn last year but we’ve yet to see any adult frogs (Rana temporaria) in our garden despite being in our house for almost four years. It’s not through lack of looking either.

However, see them or not, adult frogs obviously do visit our garden as, within the last 24hrs, we’ve had a large clump of frog spawn laid in our pond. It’s a great sight and one I’m really pleased to see. Our pond is coming up to three years old and the impact it’s had on the garden is tremendous.

Obviously it’s impossible to say if this batch of frog spawn came from the same female as the batch last year. However, since these adult frogs can’t have been from our pond in the first place (frogs taking three years before they can breed), some frogs clearly don’t return to their birth-place to spawn.

The dilemma facing us now is, do I put some of the spawn in an old fish tank and rear it through? Last year the spawn and tadpoles were eaten by our newts. We saw a female smooth newt (Triturus vulgaris) trying to bite chunks off the frog spawn last year. I’m delighted to have both in our garden but maybe I’ll give some of the frog tadpoles a helping hand this year.