Spawn Update
Crikey that pond is a busy place at the moment!
We not only have frogspawn. We have toadspawn as well: great black beaded necklaces of the stuff, draped carelessly over the pond plants I had been thinking of pulling out. I rather thought that the frogs had done their bit for this year - some of the eggs are already turning into little commas - but only this morning several new dollops of the stuff had appeared. I can see that mowing the lawn later in the year is going to be a rather tense experience.
All of Eldest Son's class are coming up tomorrow to have a look. Apparently there are now Health and Safety guidelines or something which forbid schools to put frogspawn in tanks so that the children can watch it grow. (Which reminds me . . . I must change the water in our tank so that our little frog and toadlets are well looked after.)
The other Great News as far as I am concerned is that we have newts! And judging by the numbers we've seen, there has got to be newtspawn in there as well. This is the culmination of a lifetime's ambition for me. I have dreamed of having a pond with newts in it ever since I was a little girl.
The extraordinary thing about newts is that it seems to be rather difficult to find any good pictures to help you identify which sort you have. It appears that not only are the newts secretive, the people who study them are as well. This shyness around newts extends back to the Victorian naturalists who produced the most beautiful prints of practically everything in the plant and animal kingdom but appear to have shunned the humble newt.
As well as wanting real live newts in a pond, I have been searching for many years for some pictures of newts and other Britsh amphibians in the style of the prints that the Victorians were so good at. A couple of years ago, I had a flash of inspiration and rang the Natural History Museum to ask if they had anything. The answer was a disappointing "No". I have occasionally considered approaching Ken Livingstone to see if he could help, but I rather suspect that his interest in newts has been superceded by other, more weighty matters.
The upshot is that it's hard to get anything done in the house or the garden at the moment because the temptation to go and look in the pond is overwhelming.
I've never seen toads mating before - I don't suppose many people do. All I can say is that they are the "swingers" of the amphibian world. For the last week, there have been various "clumps" of toads lolling about in the water for hours on end. It's hard to see where one toad ends and another begins but there must be six or more in some groups.
The children have been taking a polite interest in the pond's occupants but since they have been forbidden to poke or prod anything, I rather suspect that they may simply be placating their mother. The main benefit of all this pond watching from their perspective is that I have allowed them to walk on the rockery (when I'm with them) in order to get a better view.
It has been interesting to note that so far, all this talk of mating and and laying eggs does not seem to have raised the question of how human babies get made in either of their heads. . . . ho hum. . . . only a matter of time before we get to deal with that one. . . . .
I am pleased to report that all this lascivious behaviour does not seem to be affecting the more prosaic appetites of our amphibian friends. Judging by the perkiness of the few remaining pea plants, the slug population is now in decline. It will be interesting to see if the appearance of some tasty young spinach and chard seedlings (planted at the weekend) prompts a fresh wave of guerilla attacks.
Crikey that pond is a busy place at the moment!
We not only have frogspawn. We have toadspawn as well: great black beaded necklaces of the stuff, draped carelessly over the pond plants I had been thinking of pulling out. I rather thought that the frogs had done their bit for this year - some of the eggs are already turning into little commas - but only this morning several new dollops of the stuff had appeared. I can see that mowing the lawn later in the year is going to be a rather tense experience.
All of Eldest Son's class are coming up tomorrow to have a look. Apparently there are now Health and Safety guidelines or something which forbid schools to put frogspawn in tanks so that the children can watch it grow. (Which reminds me . . . I must change the water in our tank so that our little frog and toadlets are well looked after.)
The other Great News as far as I am concerned is that we have newts! And judging by the numbers we've seen, there has got to be newtspawn in there as well. This is the culmination of a lifetime's ambition for me. I have dreamed of having a pond with newts in it ever since I was a little girl.
The extraordinary thing about newts is that it seems to be rather difficult to find any good pictures to help you identify which sort you have. It appears that not only are the newts secretive, the people who study them are as well. This shyness around newts extends back to the Victorian naturalists who produced the most beautiful prints of practically everything in the plant and animal kingdom but appear to have shunned the humble newt.
As well as wanting real live newts in a pond, I have been searching for many years for some pictures of newts and other Britsh amphibians in the style of the prints that the Victorians were so good at. A couple of years ago, I had a flash of inspiration and rang the Natural History Museum to ask if they had anything. The answer was a disappointing "No". I have occasionally considered approaching Ken Livingstone to see if he could help, but I rather suspect that his interest in newts has been superceded by other, more weighty matters.
The upshot is that it's hard to get anything done in the house or the garden at the moment because the temptation to go and look in the pond is overwhelming.
I've never seen toads mating before - I don't suppose many people do. All I can say is that they are the "swingers" of the amphibian world. For the last week, there have been various "clumps" of toads lolling about in the water for hours on end. It's hard to see where one toad ends and another begins but there must be six or more in some groups.
The children have been taking a polite interest in the pond's occupants but since they have been forbidden to poke or prod anything, I rather suspect that they may simply be placating their mother. The main benefit of all this pond watching from their perspective is that I have allowed them to walk on the rockery (when I'm with them) in order to get a better view.
It has been interesting to note that so far, all this talk of mating and and laying eggs does not seem to have raised the question of how human babies get made in either of their heads. . . . ho hum. . . . only a matter of time before we get to deal with that one. . . . .
I am pleased to report that all this lascivious behaviour does not seem to be affecting the more prosaic appetites of our amphibian friends. Judging by the perkiness of the few remaining pea plants, the slug population is now in decline. It will be interesting to see if the appearance of some tasty young spinach and chard seedlings (planted at the weekend) prompts a fresh wave of guerilla attacks.
posted by Susan Darnbrough at
3:40 pm
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