Homing Frogs

[Sue]

We haven’t had frogs for two or three years. We had newts but they disappeared when we introduced gold fish. The heron has had the goldfish, so now we have a pond full of snails !

[Stanley]

There are some good snail recipes on the web Sue.....

[Wendyf]

I was surprised to see the owl hunting by the pond, not sure if this photo will be clear enough....

Screenshot_20220226-084702.jpg

[Stanley]

I can see it Wendy and my eyes are lousy!

[Cathy]

Yes I can see the Owl Wendy, in flight.
Unlucky frog but Isn’t nature wonderful.

[Tizer]

Is the one with the bright eyes standing by the pond a real owl or a fake one?

[Cathy]

Oh, is it sat by the pond?
(I’m on my phone, pics are small)
So what is that bright streak in the sky?

[Wendyf]

The very real owl is sat by the pond with its eyes shining! The streak in the sky is the farm across the valley Cathy.

[Stanley]

That was the conclusion I came to Wendy.... (smug bugger!)

[Julie in Norfolk]

Frogspawn sighted this week in new pond, we’re delighted. I had problems logging on a while ago and just thought I’d look after spotting the frogspawn. Happily, I can log back in.

[Sue]

Frogspawn sighted this week in new pond, we’re delighted. I had problems logging on a while ago and just thought I’d look after spotting the frogspawn. Happily, I can log back in.

Excellent. No sign here but not seen frogs in our pond for a couple of years.

However the fish have been active. The numbers are now a healthy twelve. I don’t feed them from November till March but when I do I always feed them in the same corner of the pond through the netting to keep prying herons away. Out of the blue last Tuesday morning when I was feeding the birds I noticed all 12 fish gathered at the feeding spot, waiting. I fed them and was amazed at the pushing and shoving that wemt on. They are now fed daily.

[Stanley]

I always know we are getting close to the end of winter when I see Julie posting about frogs. Thank you Love! You have made an old man very happy....

[Tizer]

Julie, I owe you an apology! We've got frog and newt activity too and I reported it in the What Grabbed my Attention thread yesterday. I searched for a Nature thread but couldn't find what I wanted and so resorted to the Attention one. Wendy reported frogs too. In the other thread I described how frogs coudn't get into our pond from the patio side because of a retaining wall and that I provide them with a couple of shallow bowls of water where they can deposit spawn during the night and I transfer it to the pond in the morning.

Yesterday I set up a `frog ladder' (by analogy with a fish ladder). I don't do much DIY these days and the best bit of wood I could find was an MDF shelf with plastic on one side and bare on the other. The MDF won't last long in the rain but in the meantime I could get something better. Here's a couple of photos...
(The white lines denote No Parking! )

[Stanley]

Impressive....

[Tizer]

Male and female newts courting this morning so the time has arrived to get serious. A smaller younger newt was nearby and probably wondering what they were doing!