First Batch of Frogspawn is Spotted

The first frogspawn has been spotted in our office pond.  This is approximately eight days later than last year and rather on a par with 2011 spawning records.  The frogspawn produced so far is from a single pair, we have not seen the number of frogs in the pond that we saw last year (a record ten), there have been as many as six individuals counted but so far we have not observed the frenetic activity that accompanied last year’s spawning.

Frogspawn

The spawn was laid in an extremely shallow part of the pond, so shallow in fact that only about one third of the mass of eggs was covered in water.  We were concerned about the eggs drying out should there be a period of prolonged sunny weather (some hope)!

Ensuring the Safety of the Eggs

To ensure the safety of this spawn we have carefully  made sure that the egg mass has been fully submerged.  It now resides in a slightly deeper, adjacent part of the pond.  The spawning probably took place in the early hours of this morning, according to the old folk tale, if frogspawn is found in shallow parts of a pond, that means we are in for a wet spring.  This is bound to please the farmers – not.