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Frogs spawn

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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2019 at 11:50pm
Chubsta where my parents lived in Yorkshire they had two phases of toads spawning I think it was. I will check with my brother on this but I think it was toads. I am talking about hundreds and hundreds of toads breeding in large ponds. 
Suz
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will View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote will Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Mar 2019 at 6:55am
@Chubsta - that's what I was suggesting - ie that there is relaxed selection pressure in the garden compared with the wider countryside that allows alleles for odd/bright colouration to persist at higher frequencies than usual.

@Ben - thanks, I'm not against the idea that environmental factors might trigger genes for odd colouration epistatically, as well. I'd just like someone to do the research into whether frogs in urban areas are genuinely odder/brighter than 'wilder' ones and if so, why? Also, why females are brighter/more diverse in colour than males - though that question might be easier to answer, ie females spend far less time in the grey/brown murk of ponds and hence don't need to be so well camouflaged against this background.
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Liz Heard View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Mar 2019 at 3:24pm
Hmmm...seems to be a little confusion here. I agree with you both and have done all along.
                                                                             
I was only er...pondering other possible explanations because Gemma's comments suggested to me (perhaps wrongly) that she suspected the 'unusual'
colours might be a cause for concern and signify a more sinister cause.                                                                                                                                                          
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will View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote will Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Mar 2019 at 6:23pm
Hi Ben

I think I'm agreeing with everyone too! just wanting someone to investigate (give me a fat grant and I'll do it.. )
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chubsta View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chubsta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Mar 2019 at 4:57pm
stuck in bed for a few days with a bad back so can’t see for myself but apparently the first tadpoles have hatched and there are big foamy clumps of them on the spawn. it has been very warm and sunny so i’m sure the rest won’t be far behind
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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2019 at 11:28am
Sorry to hear you're out of action Chubsta.
My new small pond taddies are doing well. Really liking basking in the sun these past few days (taddies and me). They seem to be growing each day. Seen several newts in this pond as well, egg laying/displaying. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2019 at 12:26am
Yes, hope you're back tadpole watching soon Chubsta.

Glad to hear you both have taddies doing well.

Still hearing a few male frogs calling from the pond, long after the last traces of spawn have disappeared. Hard to say how it fared as the pond is well vegetated and any attempt to part the vegetation stirs up clouds of sediment.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2019 at 10:42pm
Little concerned here as though we saw the spawn hatch, no signs yet of any free swimming taddies. Hope I don't live to regret not giving them a helping hand this year. Does very little to reassure me that the environment these days in rural East Anglia is a good place for common frogs. 
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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Apr 2019 at 12:22pm
Let's hope Gemma that they are thriving unseen...
After being mostly dry for weeks we are getting some rain here - and hail and sleet. Last night it was forecast to do quite a bit of heavy rain, so I felt I had to bail out the new small pond in case rain caused it to overflow and the taddies went over the edge in a deluge. This is one thing with rigid preforms - they do have a hard edge that can lead to overflowing. Someone on here had his taddies all go over the top the other year I recall. Unfortunately I only remembered this potential rescue mission as the light was fading, so I had to shoot out and get my white washing up bowl and a scooping container and start operations. I put my head torch on too in case light failed. As it is only a small pond I only needed to scoop out a small amount of water to lower the level to a hopefully safe level. The white bowl meant I could see if I'd scooped up any wildlife, which I would then have returned. In the event it hardly rained!
The taddies are doing very well and it is lovely to see them, which I can't in the duckweed pond, but trust they are still there.
Suz
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chubsta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Apr 2019 at 3:29pm
Suzy, I think it was me who sadly had thousands go over during a rainstorm a couple of years back - my solution to this problem is that the 'waterfall' only occurs in one small area so I have put in loads of thick plants which will hopefully act as a form of sieve and allow water through but stop the majority of tadpoles. We also had a lot of hail and rain last night and the pond did overflow as expected but no sign of any tadpoles going out, although I guess they are still too small to be at risk as they tending to stay at the other end of the pond to finish eating the jelly and some dead spawn.

Quick question - are newts a big predator of tadpoles? At our other house we put a small pond in last year into which I put a couple of clumps of my spawn (I know you aren't suppose to do such things but we have never seen any frogs in the garden and wanted to help start a population). The tadpoles have hatched but we have at least a couple of newts in the pond and my other half thinks the numbers of tadpoles are going down and is blaming the newts!
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