the online meeting place for all who love our amphibians and reptiles
Home Page Live Forums Archived Forums Site Search Identify Record Donate Projects Links
Forum Home Forum Home > Herpetofauna Native to the UK > Common Frog
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Frog spawn found in tree
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Frog spawn found in tree

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
Message
Liz Heard View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Location: South West
Status: Offline
Points: 1429
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Frog spawn found in tree
    Posted: 03 Mar 2016 at 8:02pm
Hi folks,

This was about 1.5 m up from the ground in a damp woodland and approx 50 m or so from the nearest standing water. Remote location so i'm sure it was nothing anthropocentric.
There were no signs of any claw marks of an animal climbing up the tree, and nothing further i could detect on the tree limb, nor any sign of disturbance underneath either.

Any suggestions whodunnit Will, Caleb or anyone? A heron? Seems a very low branch for one of those, but i'm no bird expert!

On upper horizontal branch, centre right of pic:







????

Back to Top
will View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1830
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote will Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2016 at 7:20am
Hi Ben, I love a mystery! kids? they have been known to chuck frogspawn around. The lack of any entrails / other signs is puzzling - normally there's some viscera left over if the poor frog has been nabbed by a crow, rat etc. Maybe there were some frog remains higher up the tree? (heron might have perched at the top and the egg mass went splat onto the lower bough - a 'tree down' hypothesis, rather than 'ground-up' if you see what I mean?)
Back to Top
AGILIS View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1689
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AGILIS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2016 at 8:06am
It a tree frogs spawn
   LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
Back to Top
Caleb View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Status: Offline
Points: 660
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Caleb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2016 at 11:32am
I'm told that herons always eat their prey whole, and regurgitate undigestible bones etc. as pellets like owls do. I'd guess that any frogspawn they might regurgitate wouldn't look as clean as this.

'Tree down' is a good theory, I vote that Ben should climb the tree to look for any frog entrails.
Back to Top
Liz Heard View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Location: South West
Status: Offline
Points: 1429
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2016 at 7:26pm
Thanks guys, 'tree down' may be right - should have thought to look up. D'oh! No chance of returning there tho' Caleb. It's miles away. However, herons certainly regurgitate spawn. I tastefully posted some pics of heron regurgitate from a field trip with HART (the Hereford ARG) a couple of years ago, and there was some among it, along with bits of frog and invertebrate cases.

Very good Keith.
Back to Top
AGILIS View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1689
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AGILIS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 6:50am
Mattter of interest Liz did you try to recycled back to some nearby water?
   LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
Back to Top
Liz Heard View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Location: South West
Status: Offline
Points: 1429
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Mar 2016 at 6:09pm
No, it wasn't any good Keith.
Back to Top
Caleb View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Status: Offline
Points: 660
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Caleb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2016 at 11:39am
I found your 'heron regurgitate' post, for anyone else that didn't see it, or who wants second helpings:





Back to Top
will View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1830
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote will Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2016 at 2:07pm
thanks for 'bringing that up' again Caleb...
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 11.06
Copyright ©2001-2016 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.328 seconds.