OneGuyFromBarlick

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 !

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

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

I can see it Wendy and my eyes are lousy!

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Julie in Norfolk wrote: ↑27 Feb 2026, 15:30 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.

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....

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! )

Impressive....

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!