We have frogspawn in the office pond. This morning (February 28th, 2023), the first batch of frogspawn was spotted in the Everything Dinosaur office pond. The eggs had probably been laid just a few hours earlier in the very early morning. It had rained in the night and there was extensive cloud cover. The night had been chilly with temperatures around 4 degrees Celsius, what would normally be expected in our area at the end of February.

This is the first time that we have recorded frogspawn in February.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Frogspawn in February

We have not recorded frogspawn in the office pond being laid in February before. Last year, we recorded the first frogspawn on March 2nd, this was the earliest we had recorded spawn, until a new record for early spawning was set this year.

Over the last few years, Everything Dinosaur team members have noted the date of the first frogspawn being laid. The trend is for the frogs (Rana temporaria) to spawn earlier each year. Is this caused by the impact of global climate change?

Earliest recorded spawning dates for Common frogs in the office pond:

• February 28th 2023
• March 2nd 2022
• March 11th 2021
• March 20th 2020
• March 22nd 2019
• March 17th 2018
• March 11th 2017
• March 20th 2016
• March 12th 2015

Other dates when we have recorded the first frogspawn in a year:

March 19th 2013, March 11th 2012, March 18th 2011 and the first ever frogspawn in the office pond was laid on March 16th 2008.