Frogs

 

Frogs




Happy New Year to you & your nearby wildlife... and hopefully a better year in the wider world of our environment on which we depend. Clean pure air; clean pure water; fertile soil – aerated and rain retaining; a bountiful food larder of leaves, flowers, fruits, roots 



and creatures visible and microscopic... all working together, recycling, upcycling, in a self-maintaining and intricately regulated system




 what a gift! And with a free bonus – tried, tested and refined over time - millennia!



Right now, this Winsley frog is hibernating – dormant, with slowed body processes so potentially vulnerable.

Watery Wildlife Gardening Hints: Along with the toads, frogs are safe sheltering under your leaf piles, inside a compost heap


 or a mammal’s old burrow. Cold-blooded so unable to control their body temperature, their temperature equals their surroundings so shelter from extreme cold is vital... and it must be damp too. Their skin is not waterproof so drying out is another hazard if they are in a place with no moisture.


They need to wait for their moment. When the temperature is right (8-11degrees), females will return to their ponds by night, with many males in pursuit. Canny male risk takers stick out winter cold at the bottom of a pond amongst dead leaves and mud... the risk is the pond freezing over cutting off their air supply. In a small shallow pond, they can die of oxygen lack ... and some do... but a risk some males take just the same. The plus is they are first in line for the females!


Traditionally this ‘get moving’ temperature trigger was about mid-Feb to March. When I and my Wildlife Watch children were ‘bucketing’ toads and frogs across Bath roads, dates were occasionally as early as 7 Feb – now a continuing trend... yet another indicator of climate change.


Our next event!



Come, See, Hear... Celebrate the New Year

with delicious free apple juice, spiced and warmed, grown and made locally by Anthony

Meet like-minded people... Make new friends

Chat wildlife, gardens and ponds!

Come and add your wildlife habitats to

The Map

Donations towards heating etc expenses welcome, card or cash.


Watery Wildlife Gardening Hints:

 Leave heaps of dead leaves, compost heaps, wood piles undisturbed or check carefully and rehouse any amphibian you may accidentally disturb.


 Frog and toad abodes online are plentiful! Upturned ceramic broken flowerpots make good shelter too.


Keep hungry herons etc at bay with wires or netting across your pond. Years ago, our early rising (5.30 am!) neighbour noticed a daily visit by a heron to our pond to feast on early tadpoles!

 In the same vein, if starting a pond, plant water lilies to spread their sheltering protective ‘umbrella’ leaves.

Remember when designing or adapting a pond, frogs and toads need to be able to hop/walk in and out of your pond easily, ideally via a ‘beach’ or ramp bridge, not a pond with vertical sides.


Credits: 9, poster Sue Ellis; 10 – 1980’s Wildlife Watchword poster compost heaps; 11 Frogilo RSPB; 12 Peter Scourse; others Nicolette Scourse

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