Frogs a-Spawning

The reserve was a little wind swept today with the odd shower, ….

….but even when wet and cold the reserve has a magical feel of peace and solitude.

The first frog spawn was noticed on Friday on the Scrapes. The numerous clusters are the signs of a dozen females, but I did not notice many Common Frogs about today, the cooler weather seems to make the mating less prolific.

Frogs and toads normally overwinter in places like compost heaps, amongst dead wood or under decking/your shed/other objects. Frogs and sometimes newts, will choose to overwinter at the bottom of the pond where temperatures are warmer; they bury themselves down in the silt at the bottom and take in oxygen through their skin.

Amphibians will emerge from hibernation when the weather starts to warm up (night time temperatures over 5’C) – this can be any time from January onwards, and although the weather has changed to cold recently the mating activity started in a mild spring-like spell a week ago at Foxglove Covert.They head straight towards the numerous waterbodies to breed and it’s common to see large numbers of them congregating in and around ponds. Males often start moving before females and will either wait at the pond for a potential mate to arrive or wait nearby and ‘piggy back’ on passing females.

There will be a fair bit of movement of Frogs and Toads over the next few weeks so please try to avoid them on the main track to the Field Centre.