20 MARCH 2025 – FROG FEST IN MY WILDLIFE POND

I’d been out in the morning, returning to the house about 12.15 pm and just happened to peer out of the kitchen window in time to see the pond seemingly ‘boiling’. Of course, I knew exactly what was occurring and quickly snatched the camera and headed for back garden and the wildlife pond. But, as soon as I approached the pond all activity suddenly ceased.

I waited a while - possibly ten minutes or so - when a head plopped up; and then another; and then there were three entangled together; and then the ‘boiling’ began again, and soon a mass of frogs continued an orgy of activity, the likes of which I hadn’t seen here for three years.

In the spring of 2022 - for just one morning in March - I counted at least 26 mating couples, and there were likely more as it was almost impossible to determine the exact number – but only three individuals remained the following morning. And now, in March 2025, it was happening again, although not on such a large scale as this time I counted at least 32 individual frogs, with a single ‘coupling’ of five individuals atop one very large female frog. Of course, I had a field day with my camera, taking over 40 shots.

The next day, all seemed very quiet, with just the occasional ‘ripple’ of activity. About midday however, I could see from the kitchen window that several pairs were still in the throes of mating, although of course, they could well have been new arrivals. But I wasn’t getting anywhere near the number of photos, and when I attempted videoing the scene, all participants either slinked back into the water, or submerged beneath the mass of frog spawn. However, I was pleased to be assured that all this activity meant that my pond was in a pretty good condition, otherwise surely, this wouldn’t be happening.

AIR BUBBLE FROM A SUBMERGED FROG

MASSES OF FROG SPAWN