Tadpole update 1

On the 23rd of February we found a large clump of frog (Rana temporaria) spawn in our pond. Last year many of the tadpoles were eaten by our newts so I thought I’d bring in a small piece of the spawn this year and rear it through. The spawn has been in a fish tank in our kitchen since the end of February.

The remaining spawn in the pond has now hatched and the tadpoles are free swimming and all over the pond. During the warm weather they cluster in the shallow areas of the pond, presumably because the water is warmer there, and form a seething mass of black shapes:

In contrast, the tadpoles that I’ve got indoors are much more advanced and have been free swimming for some weeks. They’ve moved on from the vegetarian phase and are now eating lumps of meat (as of the 16th March they’re eating the cheapest braising steak I could get) and are breathing air rather than relying on gills: