Frog Spawn

[JamesT]

in the little pond in the garden.

Last year there were lots of tadpoles but I didn't see any spawn (I think it was all under the escape cloth on the left in the top picture).

[CMunzel]

Lovely to see there is frogspawn - a sign of ecosystem health.

[JamesT]

1 hour ago, CMunzel said:

Lovely to see there is frogspawn - a sign of ecosystem health.

Thanks Cheryl,

but wait, there's more:

[Ryewolf]

There used to be a local nature reserve near to me that had lots of toads spawning but a deliberately induced invasive plant basically killed the reserve

[JamesT]

12 hours ago, Ryewolf said:

There used to be a local nature reserve near to me that had lots of toads spawning but a deliberately induced invasive plant basically killed the reserve

That's a great shame, how did it happen?

 

Good news here though, they have started hatching. Too much sky reflection to get a photo, all I can really see is that some of the eggs are empty and there are little things wiggling just below the surface.

[Ryewolf]

A guy dumped a fish tank of terrapins and Crassula helmsii (New Yealand Pigmyweed) which is virtually impossible to kill off

[JamesT]

Not the best shot in history, but it does show the "tadpole soup" that is now in the pond. and also some of the now-empty eggs.

There are also some tiny arthropods, that I only saw in the photo, by their relative brightness I think they are on the surface.

Any ideas @Paul?

[Paul]

Still nothing frogworthy here, even the first frog has disappeared.

The little things you have are globular springtails - not easy to ID without scrutiny and being so small in the frame even harder, but I reckon they could be Sminthurus maculatus

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Paul

[JamesT]

50 minutes ago, Paul said:

Still nothing frogworthy here, even the first frog has disappeared.

The little things you have are globular springtails - not easy to ID without scrutiny and being so small in the frame even harder, but I reckon they could be Sminthurus maculatus

Thanks Paul.

Hope your frogs do come back and use the pond (they can be pretty elusive so they may be hiding just by).