Signs of Little Frogs in the Office Pond

Over the last few weeks, one of the interests of team members at Everything Dinosaur has been observing the frogspawn and tadpoles in the office pond.  Frogs spawned in the pond  back on March 14th, ever since we have kept a watchful eye on the progress made by these little amphibians.

To read the article on this momentous occasion: Frogspawn in the Office Pond Again.

This is the second year running that frogs have spawned in our pond, we were delighted as the 5 native species of frog to the British Isles (if you include the Edible Frog), are all endangered.  We were a little concerned about how suitable the pond would be as last Autumn we gave it a really good clean out and removed a lot of the pond weed.  This does not seem to have phased the frogs, in fact the pond vegetation has recovered well and we have been able to follow the progress of the tadpoles much more closely this year.  For some weeks, last year the tadpoles simply disappeared and we thought that none had survived, but it was simply a case of them being too well hidden amongst the pond debris and plants for us to spot them.

Little Frogs

Yesterday, we saw our first froglet of the year.  The animal was spotted late in the evening, just as we were closing up for the night (around 8.30pm).  The tail was still present but it had begun to shrink and the square frog-like jaw was well developed.

The First Froglet of 2009

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Not the best picture we have ever taken, but the blurred image is that of a tiny frog clambering over one of the rims of a plant pot on the edge of the pond.  The animal seems determined to exercise its newly developed limbs and we expect in about a week or so the tail will be fully absorbed and the little creature will be living the pond.

Hoping the Little Frogs Make It

Let’s hope that lots of little frogs make it this year and that with luck some of them will survive long enough to hopefully come back in a few years to spawn themselves.