Tadpoles

[Mice!]

We went out for a walk after the rugby on Sunday,  beautiful after out in the sun, eating ice creams in a local ish country park, I spotted a big patch of tadpoles,  then the kids spotted more, and more....

Not sure I've ever seen this many, they were just everywhere,  and it looked like a Mallard was eating them?

[discobob]

Brings back memories of jam jars etc

 

[JohnfromUK]

They do eat tadpoles

 

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, discobob said:

Brings back memories of jam jars etc

 

First thing my kids said was can we take some home!

I said how, in your pockets 🤣🤣

1 hour ago, JohnfromUK said:

They do eat tadpoles

 

Something I'd never seen before 👍

[JohnfromUK]

1 minute ago, Mice! said:

Something I'd never seen before

We used to collect some frogspawn every year (this was 60 years ago) and put it in a small pond/reservoir in the garden where water was kept for the greenhouse (collected at ground level from roofs and hand pumped to a holding tank high up in the greenhouse).  My father encouraged frogs in the garden as they ate 'pests' (I presume slugs, possibly snails?).

You only found a lot of frogspawn on small expanses of water where ducks didn't come in and fish were either non existent, or tiny.  Bigger areas where ducks landed, ducks ate much wildlife.

[Mice!]

3 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

You only found a lot of frogspawn on small expanses of water where ducks didn't come in and fish were either non existent, or tiny.  Bigger areas where ducks landed, ducks ate much wildlife.

There were mallard and Moor Hens, then plenty of good sized fish basking in the sun.

It might be because it's been so dry that the frogs were forced to use the pond?

[steve_b_wales]

As a youngster (many moons ago) my mates and I used to collect frogspawn and put it in some ponds that the farmer used to own, and nobody else was allowed on his land. 

[JohnfromUK]

3 minutes ago, Mice! said:

It might be because it's been so dry that the frogs were forced to use the pond?

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/04/when-do-frogs-spawn-and-how-to-spot-them/

I think the frogs probably lay literally thousands of eggs ....... and only a relative few will ever make it into adults

https://www.arc-trust.org/spawn-tadpoles-faqs

[Penelope]

47 minutes ago, Mice! said:

There were mallard and Moor Hens, then plenty of good sized fish basking in the sun.

It might be because it's been so dry that the frogs were forced to use the pond?

The carp will love munching on them too.

[samboy]

Can't remember the last time i saw a tadpole. I live 200 yds from some large ponds so i will have a look tomorrow.

[Dougy]

They always return to the place they began life. 

I took a bucket full down the road, there's just too many of them in my small pond. 

[Mice!]

16 hours ago, Dougy said:

They always return to the place they began life

I knew that mate, but everywhere is bone dry up here at the moment,  unless it's a pond, and then water levels are well down.

I was walking off a perm last week through what should have been a small stream,  but it's crusty, the grasses and greenery is already chest high so it's going to go crazy when it rains. But as I was walking the grass in front of me kept moving,  I thought it was mice but it was frogs.

 

[Penelope]

31 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I knew that mate, but everywhere is bone dry up here at the moment,  unless it's a pond, and then water levels are well down.

I was walking off a perm last week through what should have been a small stream,  but it's crusty, the grasses and greenery is already chest high so it's going to go crazy when it rains. But as I was walking the grass in front of me kept moving,  I thought it was mice but it was frogs.

 

Surprising, as water levels have been way up in Essex. All of the lakes I fish (3 in different areas have had swims flooded since March and are only now dropping.

The net is where the front of the swim is. Taken on 1st May.

 

[Mice!]

46 minutes ago, Penelope said:

The net is where the front of the swim is. Taken on 1st May

I'm not sure if it rained up here in May at all, yet in April we were cancelling rugby training because the pitches were a quagmire. 

This is what the squirrels have been doing because its so dry.

Quite a few Beech trees have been hit which only seems to happen during extended dry spells.

[Penelope]

4 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I'm not sure if it rained up here in May at all, yet in April we were cancelling rugby training because the pitches were a quagmire. 

This is what the squirrels have been doing because its so dry.

Quite a few Beech trees have been hit which only seems to happen during extended dry spells.

True, we've had no rain in May either. Almost two months of northerly winds, too.