Common frog - range?

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   I live in a group of houses in a 'triangle' area that is surrounded by roads, i guess the village could be classed as 'semi-rural' according to estate-agents etc. A quick check of google-earth shows no other ponds in the immediate area that i can see apart from the one in my garden.
I was just wondering what the 'catchment area' is for my frogs - do they travel much of a distance of spawn in the pond or are they all in the neighbouring gardens. I dont really see many when gardening because my property is pretty 'sterile' - work commitments mean i dont have time for gardening so just have a lawn surrounded by hedges - but have over 100 in the pond at any one time when spawning.

Any thoughts?

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chubsta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 430	Post Options Post Reply Quote chubsta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Common frog - range? Posted: 12 May 2013 at 3:30pm
	I live in a group of houses in a 'triangle' area that is surrounded by roads, i guess the village could be classed as 'semi-rural' according to estate-agents etc. A quick check of google-earth shows no other ponds in the immediate area that i can see apart from the one in my garden. I was just wondering what the 'catchment area' is for my frogs - do they travel much of a distance of spawn in the pond or are they all in the neighbouring gardens. I dont really see many when gardening because my property is pretty 'sterile' - work commitments mean i dont have time for gardening so just have a lawn surrounded by hedges - but have over 100 in the pond at any one time when spawning. Any thoughts?

will Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830	Post Options Post Reply Quote will Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 May 2013 at 5:34pm
	They're not as fussy as toads as to choice of breeding pond, so generally won't need to move as far to find suitable terrestrial habitat once they have spawned, especially as suitable cover and food is usually nearby in garden habitats. Having said that, they do spread out over nearby gardens providing suitable corridors for dispersal exist, at least a hundred metres or more as shown by the way in which newly created ponds can be colonised naturally some distance from others in gardens.

GemmaJF Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359	Post Options Post Reply Quote GemmaJF Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 May 2013 at 7:11pm
	It's something I've wondered about too. Years ago we dug a pond in my Mum's garden and it attracted plenty of common frogs. The garden was walled around 60%, and fenced about 30% of the remainder. The lawn was always mown, over the wall was a huge mowed playing field and most of the surrounding gardens were similar with mown lawns. Made me wonder where on earth they all came from and went to for the summer months and how they managed to negotiate the wall and fence, as the only way in seemed to be under the back gate!