It has been a good year for frogs, at least in my garden pond. Last year, most of the frog spawn was killed off by a very sharp, late cold spell; few tadpoles survived, and I recall seeing just a couple of baby frogs. At the weekend, I was out tidying the garden in the warm cusp-of-summer sunshine, and just in the small area around the bench beside the pond, I scared over a dozen baby frogs in the long grass. They scattered, already expert hoppers, heading straight for the water. They reminded me of a scene many years ago, when I was hiking in the Lake District. My friend and I were passing a pond when we noticed a lot of movement on the ground in front of us. At first, we thought it was a colony of wood ants on their way to some rich pickings. We looked closer, and to our surprise we saw hundreds – and I mean hundreds – of tiny frogs, all hopping away from the pond. I have never before or since seen so many frogs in one place, although I do remember having to dismount from my bicycle very late one night in Shalford, to avoid running over a crowd of adult frogs, who I guess were on their way to the local pond for some fun and frolics and spawning.
I had high hopes for the frogs this year, and so far they have been realised. The large clumps of spawn appeared overnight, or so it seemed. In my previous house, where I also made a pond, the frogs used to make the most alarming hullabaloo before spawning, but obviously the Bournemouth frogs are more sedate, perhaps respecting the supposed majority of senior citizens in the area. The toads played their part as well, depositing their strings of eggs around the pond. Several weeks ago the pond was teeming with wriggling black wildlife, and I had to distinguish between the tadpoles and the “toadpoles”, as I christened the toad contribution. The tadpoles are speckled whereas the toadpoles are not. The tadpoles also tend to be more adventurous and set off round the pond on their own to find food, whereas the toadpoles are happy to bunch together in one place. They share the pond with the populous progeny of eight originally bought-in fish – two each of goldfish, lemon goldfish, sarasa comet and shubunkin – but do not seem to suffer for it.
My garden is quite small, but there are many dark, quiet places for frogs and toads to live. Throughout the year, I occasionally disturb an amphibian as I move a stone by the pond, or tidy up some debris in the borders. I like to think that I do things to encourage wildlife into my garden. In addition to the amphibians, I also see damselflies, dragonflies, bats and hedgehogs. My most notable visitor was a sparrowhawk, although he did scare off the bird table regulars for a while! I also have an unidentified creature who occasionally digs a small diameter hole, about 3-5 cm, very neatly, into the ground. I would love to know what it is. All I want to complete my water collection is a newt. I was fortunate enough to attract newts to my last pond, and I really hope that there are some in my area. So, if you know any newts, let them know!