Hopping along...

According to the national news, frogs have been in a spawning frenzy for the last week, everywhere, except here!

Not a single sighting of a frog or toad in mine or my neighbours pond.

Conspiracy theories began to be concocted; a mystery disease, maybe some nasty spray used by the farmer....but then today, while doing a spot of gardening........

Meanwhile, the Blue Tits have some competition for their nest box...

And in the moth trap, a new species for the garden....

Oak Beauty

Rippit!

Common Frog

Frogs thrashing around in the pond since yesterday, a couple of days earlier than last year when we had a very mild February. Will they spawn before the 23rd March, my earliest garden record?

Oh, and a Blackbird is nesting in the Ivy :)

What colour is your frog?

The frogs are coupling in our the pond and I've noticed one to be a bit off colour - purple no less!

Common Frog - looking as you would expect

Common Frog - the female looking purple

Garden springs to life

Frogs thrashing around in the pond, a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly on the decking and a Dotted Border in the moth trap this morning. 11 deg C last night - quite a contrast to last year when it was -5 deg C!

Pond spring clean

Tynemouth Boating Lake

Inspired by the restoration work being carried out at Tynemouth boating lake I decided that after 4 years of letting my garden pond 'mature' it was time to give it a clean; remove silt, re-pot plants etc. To keep the task simple I thought a pump of some sort could be used to pump the silt out of the deeper part of the pond so I went in search of one at a local garden centre. I was shown a pond vacuum - only £250!!

Needless to say I didn't part with a penny and instead combined a pond pump, some hose and a large water butt and pumped the pond empty. Had I gone down the pump/hoover route it would have turned out to be a big mistake as in the bottom of the pond were no less than 10 frogs - just the right size to get stuck in a hoover! I wonder what happens to frogs dredged from Tynemouth Boating Lake?!

Pond is now sorted ready for spring and frog spawn (25th march last year).

Thank Frog for That!

Every morning for the last couple of weeks I've pulled back the bedroom curtains to find no frog spawn in the garden pond. Last year this went on for weeks after which the frogs nipped over to next doors pond and laid all their spawn there.

To be honest, this year it had become a bit of a concern; were there no females, were they infertile, could the females not get to the calling males due to next doors fence having no way under??

No need to fret anymore. Result!

Brace youself pet!

The milder weather has brought my pond to boiling point. No spawn yet but it's just a matter of time.

Other signs of spring included my first Bumblebee on Saturday and my garden thermometer reaching double figures for the first time this year.

PS. That's not a spelling mistake in the title - that's hoo wi spell up north.

Et Voila!

Just got home and decided to check the pond - four frogs! The first this year and by the look of them, all males. Let's hope the ice keeps off for them.