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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: Common frog

Little wrigglers

30 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by sconzani in amphibian

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Common frog, Common frog tadpole, tadpoles

I was very pleasantly surprised to spot these tadpoles today in a tiny pond at a local nature reserve. I’d not noticed any frog spawn there this year and had seen several dog owners/walkers letting their charges splash about in the two ponds so figured any spawn had been destroyed. Let’s hope these little wrigglers get left alone long enough to make it to adulthood.

220330 tadpoles

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First frog eggs

11 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by sconzani in amphibian, spring

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Common frog, frog eggs, frog spawn, Rana temporaria, signs of spring

I first saw this, my first frog spawn of the year a couple of days ago but it got bumped from yesterday’s post by the excitement of seeing the Bonaparte’s gull. This spawn is a bit later than last year’s first sighting and I’ve only spotted the one lot, despite peering into many pools and puddles. I hope that doesn’t bode ill for the local frog population.

220311 frog spawn

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First frog spawn

07 Sunday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in amphibian

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Common frog, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, first frog spawn, frog spawn, signs of spring

Yesterday it was my first caterpillar; today saw another, rather different first sighting for 2021. Though it’s a bit earlier than the last couple of years, I spotted my first frog spawn, at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, not in any of the official ponds but rather in an area of the west paddock that is so water-logged from all the rain we’ve had this year that there are several large temporary pools.

210207 frog spawn (1)

I wonder if frog spawn can survive freezing and thawing? We’ve not had any snow but there’s a bitterly cold wind blowing straight from the Arctic and our temperatures are forecast to be mostly below zero for a few days. It will be interesting to see if the spawn can survive this chilly blast and continue to develop into tadpoles. I’ll keep you posted.

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84/366 In the ponds

24 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in amphibian, nature, reptiles

≈ 2 Comments

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Common frog, Common frog tadpole, Common toad, Common toad spawn, pond wildlife, tadpole, Water boatman

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.

200324 frog tadpole (1)
200324 frog tadpole (2)

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

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59/366 Good weather for frogs?

28 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in amphibian, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British amphibians, Common frog, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, frog spawn, Rana temporaria

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)

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56/365 Frog spawn

25 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, amphibian, nature, spring

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, Common frog, frog, frog spawn, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Rana temporaria

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)

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March at Cosmeston

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, flowers, nature, reptiles, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, Common frog, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Hawfinch, Meadow pipit, primrose, Reed buntin, Sand martin, Scaup, treecreeper

11 March  This visit to Cosmeston started with me being yaffled at by a Green woodpecker – I always think they’re jeering at me, trying to lure me into stalking them for that ever-elusive close-up. I resisted and walked on, then paused to watch a Magpie trying to carry off a very large twig / small branch, proof that nest-building has begun.

180329 1 primroses

Masses of pale Primroses were flowering prettily along the western boundary path, and the lake was overflowing the boardwalk at the west end due to recent heavy rain.

180329 2 drake Scaup

I paused near there, as I always do, to look at the gulls and finally, FINALLY, spotted the drake Scaup that’s been visiting the Cosmeston lakes on and off in recent weeks, this time in company with a female Tufted duck, which could be why some interesting hybrids are occasionally sighted locally.

180329 3 Treecreeper
180329 4 Gadwall & Tufted ducks

I walked up Mile Road and then off the main track to where the bird hide used to be (it was burnt down by vandals last year and has not been rebuilt), and spotted a Treecreeper hopping up a nearby tree, then turned to see a group of five Gadwall on the east lake, much closer in than usual.

180329 5 Great crested grebes

I watched them a while then was charmed to also watch a pair of Great crested grebes displaying – more on those here. I wandered on, up Mile Road to the top end where I head back in to suburbia, and was farewelled by a large flock of perhaps fifty Fieldfare and Redwing that flew up from the area of Old Cogan Farm and landed in the trees above me.

180329 6 Scaup
180329 7 Common frog

16 March  I only walked through Cosmeston as part of a longer walk from Sully to Penarth, so I didn’t linger long but I did manage to get closer views and better photos of the Scaup, as it was sitting right off the boardwalk and ‘swan feeding area’ near the cafe. And I also detoured past the dipping pond to check out the Common frog eruption – see more on the frogs here.

180329 8 Meadow pipits
180329 9 Meadow pipits

19 March  I stomped off to Cossie with snow still on the ground (but steadily melting) after the ‘Mini-beast from the east’, the second instalment of cold weather to blast us this month. The most notable wildlife effect was in the large numbers of Meadow pipits to be seen, sometimes in singles, at one point a flock of at least 20 grazing together.

180329 10 Chiffchaff

It was also a day of confusing birds: there was a female Blackbird with a pale bib, making me think she might be a Ring ouzel, and two Chiffchaffs pretending to be Reed warblers, presumably because there were more insects to be had close to the water – behaviour also seen at another site in south Wales that day.

180329 11 Sand martin

And, another sign of spring, I saw my first Sand martins of the year, three of them, hawking back and forth on the east lake.

180329 12 Reed bunting

23 March  Once again, this was a walk through rather than around Cosmeston, as I was doing the same walk as a week ago, from Sully back home. As I had recently stocked up on bird seed, I was sprinkling small amounts here and there as I strolled, and was delighted to see three male Reed buntings come down for a snack in one spot – such handsome birds. The other highlight was the Chiffchaffs, at least six crisscrossing the lane between the two lakes, flycatching the multitude of little gnatty things flying about on this sunny day.

180329 13 hawfinch

29 March  Well, I wasn’t intending to make another visit to Cossie this month but then one of my birding friends spotted a Hawfinch there on the 27th and I couldn’t let that pass without at least having a look for it. (For non-birders, Hawfinches are usually difficult to find, though they have been having a good winter this year.) So, trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to dodge heavy rain showers, I headed over to Cosmeston early this morning. I knew the approximate location to look but it certainly wasn’t easy spotting anything in the dense trees. Luckily, I had listened to the bird’s call on the RSPB website before I set off and that’s how I found it … by listening very very carefully and then following that sound. The bird was very high in a tree and almost obscured by intervening branches (my photo is a heavy crop) … but I was very chuffed to find it!

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Frogs, and lots of them

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in nature, reptiles, spring

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British reptiles, Common frog, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, frog, Rana temporaria, signs of spring

Here’s a sign of spring, if ever there was one – well, hundreds of signs of spring, in fact – as the frogs are out and croaking at Cosmeston’s dipping pond.

180320 Common frog (1)

Though they come in a variety of colours, ranging from light green and yellow through to olive and light brown, these are all Common frogs (Rana temporaria). They’ve long hind legs for hopping and swimming, big eyes for spotting females, and strong front fingers for gripping on to those females once they find them. At dinnertime, they have a preference for small invertebrates like slugs and snails, and they, in turn, are much enjoyed by herons, crows, hedgehogs, otters, and rats.

180320 Common frog (2)180320 Common frog (4)

Frogs have a special place in human culture: they have been used to predict the weather – bright healthy skin foretells fine weather, dull skin rain; they are the subject of numerous superstitions – a frog in the house is a portent of death or something similarly awful, yet frog bones might be worn around the neck as a cure-all; they feature in idioms – if your voice is a bit croaky, you are said to ‘have a frog in your throat’ – and in fairytales – a frog is transformed into a handsome price after being kissed by a beautiful princess. And I haven’t even mentioned one of the most well-known frogs of all, Kermit.

180320 Common frog (3)180320 Common frog (5)

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Smiles

26 Saturday Aug 2017

Posted by sconzani in amphibian, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Common frog, frog, smiling frog

… are contagious!

170826 smiling frog

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Frogs in flagrante

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by sconzani in amphibian, nature, nature photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Common frog, frog spawn, frogs mating, Rana temporaria

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!

160326 common frog (2)
160326 common frog (1)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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