Category Archives: amphibian

215/366 Mr Warty

02 Sunday Aug 2020

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Or it might be Mrs Warty – I’m not sure how you tell the gender of a Common toad, and this one wasn’t hanging around to let me have a second look anyway. Those warts aren’t really warts, of course – they’re swellings above glands in the skin that can secrete a poisonous substance that acts as a defence mechanism.

200802 toad (1)

Though they’re not the most attractive of creatures, toads are, according to my Fauna Britannica, ‘highly intelligent, learn quickly and can be tamed, and they are extremely long-lived (40 years at least)’. Apparently, they also have ‘a marked homing instinct and will return to the same resting spot in some damp corner time after time’, so perhaps I need to go back for another look at this one.

200802 toad (2)

84/366 In the ponds

24 Tuesday Mar 2020

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I saw my first-ever Common toad (Bufo bufo) spawn when I was checking out the local ponds yesterday. Their structure – double rows of dark round eggs within long see-through strings – is unmistakable.

200324 toad spawn

I couldn’t find any Common frog (Rana temporaria) spawn but that might be because the spawn has now all hatched into tadpoles. There weren’t too many of those either – perhaps the local Grey heron or other birds have been feasting on their version of caviar.

And the only other critter that was swimming about in the murky, still muddy water was this Water boatman (Corixa punctata), scooting along on the surface in that haphazard way they do.

200324 water boatman

59/366 Good weather for frogs?

28 Friday Feb 2020

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Do frogs like the rain? As they’re amphibians, I’m assuming they do but I’m sure even they experience difficulties when there’s too much water around, and maybe it’s just their tadpoles that, of necessity, like water.

200228 frog spawn (1)

Our miserable weather continued today, with heavy rain from dawn to dusk, so these photos are from a couple of days ago when I enjoyed a meander around Forest Farm Nature Reserve in the all-too-brief sunshine. I found this frog spawn, the eggs of the Common frog (Rana temporaria), in the dragonfly pond at the reserve.

200228 frog spawn (3)

I initially thought it was a little early but it turns out I blogged about finding frog spawn at Lavernock Nature Reserve on the exact same date last year. I missed the tadpoles in 2019 so must remember to check for them in a week or so.

200228 frog spawn (2)

56/365 Frog spawn

25 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, amphibian, nature, spring

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190225 frog spawn (1)

Plenty of sunshine in recent days means lots of light and warmth, which means the Common frogs (Rana temporaria) have been doing their thing in the pond at Lavernock Nature Reserve, and there are now huge clumps of spawn. Some of the little black dots already look to be developing, though, apparently, only 1 in 50 of these eggs will grow to frog-hood. I’ll be keeping an eye on them whenever I pass through this way.

190225 frog spawn (2)

Invasive American red-eared terrapins

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

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Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles battled alien invaders for the good of society, yet the popularity of their comic books, TV cartoons and films created a craze for pet turtles, the idiotic and irresponsible owners of which have now created their own alien invaders by releasing their unwanted pets into Britain’s rivers, ponds and assorted waterways?

170801 American red-eared terrapin

Cambodia’s Common green frog

29 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in amphibian, flowers, nature

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When I lived in Cambodia in 2013, one of the things that regularly made me smile was these little frogs, the Common greens (Hylarana erythraea), also known as the Green paddy frogs. Although they would live almost anywhere there was a pond or stagnant water, there was one particular pond, in the grounds of a local pagoda, where I knew they could always be found.

160629 Cambodia Common green frog (1)

The frogs were quite wary of humans – perhaps they had some realisation that the locals considered them a food source – so I would have to move very slowly and quietly ever closer to the pond to try to get photos. And, even then, the slightest breeze or loud noise or change in the light would see some of them leap frantically away to hide, well camouflaged, under a lily pad. And that just made me laugh out loud, which scared the rest of them into panicky hopping. The long narrow pond was also full of waterlilies so, for me, the combination of cute frogs and gorgeous blooms was irresistible.

Frogs in flagrante

26 Saturday Mar 2016

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My social media feeds have been full of the frog spawn people have been finding in ponds all over these isles but it wasn’t till last Thursday, while up the Welsh valleys on a wildlife recorders course, that I was in frog-full countryside. And as we meandered along a track in the Cwn Saerbren SSSI at Treherbert, searching for biology to record, what should we find but two Common frogs (Rana temporaria) enjoying a tender moment together. I hadn’t seen a Common frog before so, though it seemed a tad voyeuristic, I took rather a lot of photos.

160326 common frog (3)

At this time of year, the males celebrate the joys of spring with a croaking fiesta to attract the females. The male with the loudest croak wins the contest, and gets to climb on the female’s back, grasping her under her forelegs with the special nuptial pads on his front legs. The pair stay attached like this until the female lays her 1000 – 2000 eggs, over which the male sprays his sperm to fertilise them. We left our couple to continue the process but did collect a small sample of frog spawn elsewhere, for scientific examination. The rest, as they say, is tadpoles!