Toads and frogs

22 Thursday Feb 2024

Tags

Bufo bufo, Common frog, Common toad, frog, frog spawn, Rana temporaria, toad, toad spawn

It’s ‘that’ time of year! I didn’t spot them initially, then wondered what was making the ripples in the water … and, when I looked closer, felt like a voyeur.

240222 toads

I think my photos all show Toads (though I couldn’t see their bodies or sizes properly, they all seemed to have lumpy backs) but there must have been plenty of Frogs around as well because I found both Toad and Frog spawn. Toad spawn comes in long strings, as shown in the right of the upper photo below, whereas Frog spawn consists of single eggs all lumped together. Some of the Frog spawn had obviously been there for a few days as the tiny tadpoles were already beginning to develop.

240222 toad and frog spawn

First frog eggs

11 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by sconzani in amphibian, spring

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

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)

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)

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)

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!