In message , Sacha
writes
On 25/2/07 15:29, in article , "Robert"
wrote:

In message et, Sally
Thompson writes

Saw our first frogspawn of the year today - two weeks earlier than usual
(last year was on 11th March). I think this is very early for this part of
the country. We went out just now with the torch and the big pond
is teeming
with frogs. Quite lifts the heart.

Also newts already in the pond, which seems early to us although we haven't
kept a record of dates of those.

Mind you, they don't really need the pond since the ground is so incredibly
waterlogged it's difficult to walk on at the moment. They could
just bask in
the puddles.

Our first batch of frog spawn appeared on 13 February (South Devon).
This was 6 weeks earlier than last year. There have been 2 additional
batches so far. The toad and newt spawn tends to be several weeks
later. For the last couple of years we have had to remove the spawn
from the pond to protect it from the attentions of some very predatory
small flatworms that have moved in large numbers and seem to treat the
spawn as a delicacy.

Every year I'm surprised at how long it takes for the spawn to appear in our
pond, given that the toads have been around for some time. I know
absolutely nothing about gestation with regard to toads, so how long DOES it
normally take for them to spawn? Do the females hold off until the weather
warms up a bit, or something?!


No idea about the comparative gestation times of frogs and toads - based
on the fact that I found a very sleepy male toad still hibernating in a
heap of leaf litter yesterday perhaps they are just more laid back than
the frogs who seem to start mating when weather conditions are still
risky.

--
Robert