Exciting news we have spotted a batch of frogspawn in the office pond.  It is a spawn from a single female, and it was probably laid in the early hours of the morning.  A single frog had been observed in the pond over the weekend.  However, this morning there are at least four frogs present.  We did not want to disturb the frogs, but we did want to photograph the first frogspawn of 2026.

The first frogspawn in the office pond spotted on the morning of the 25th of February. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The First Frogspawn of 2026

The wet January means that the pond is very full.  We suspect the recent cold snap has delayed spawning.  Nevertheless, the first batch of eggs has been laid approximately two weeks earlier than in 2025.  This year’s start of the spawning season is not as early as previously recorded.  For example, in 2024 the first batch of frogspawn was observed on the morning of the 18th of February. This was the earliest date that it had been recorded since we began gathering this information.

Since we began recording egg laying dates there has been a trend for the frogs (Rana temporaria) to spawn earlier each year.  For instance, fifteen years ago the first frogspawn laid was recorded around the third week of March.  Recently, spawning has taken place earlier in the year, several weeks earlier in most cases.  We suspect that this is evidence of a changing climate.

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Sue and I do our best to help nature.  We have tended and cared for this small pond and recorded the date of the first frogspawn laid every year since 2008.  In that year, the first frogspawn was recorded around the 16th of March.  Eighteen years later frogspawn is recorded twenty days earlier.  It is our way of measuring the impact of a changing climate.”

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