Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Frog spawn o'clock?

I have a plot on a large allotment site and put in a pond last year. It would be great to start a frog presence as it is a great environment with lots of tall grass and moist areas. Hoping someone will let me know if they have a pond where the mating takes place and they might share some spawn? Should be soon?

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Permalink Reply by Maddy on February 3, 2020 at 19:35

I think the best thing is to wait for the frogs to find it - as you say it sounds very inviting. There are issues with importing frog spawn from elsewhere as it could spread disease (amongst frogs).

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Permalink Reply by Philip on February 4, 2020 at 7:39

That's what Google says. Frog numbers are in decline. They they will never find my allotment since it is ultimately bordered by roads. They need help.

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Permalink Reply by Maddy on February 4, 2020 at 8:33

I was given that information by someone from Froglife, a frog conservation charity, who I met in Railway Fields.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on February 4, 2020 at 18:44

First of all thank you for building a pond. Lots of wildlife and invertebrates such as dragonflies and hover flies will be very grateful that you have provided them with some valuable blue space but just to back up Maddy, there are solid reasons why you shouldn’t transport frogspawn. Below is the advice directly from the Froglife website

Railway Fields often gets frogspawn but we have ducks close by on the New River which will gobble the lot in days. One heron can take out your frog population in a week. If you are fortunate enough to have newts (lucky! Newts are beautiful and we have them) then they will eat the spawn. Your pond will be found if it’s suitable and if it’s not it’s just as well since frogs often try to return to their pond of origin the following year and roads and frogs are not the best of friends. Ensure there’s lots of habitat such as logs for frogs to shelter under.

Also there’s no such thing as too much frogspawn. Mortality rates are high, 2,000 eggs will produce about 5 mature frogs so moving it away from a successful pond may actually decrease the chances of the frogs reaching maturity.

I hope we can convince you Philip to give it more time and let nature do the work. Your pond will be of tremendous value to all your local wildlife although sometimes it’s hard to see as so much happens below the surface.

“Avoid moving frogspawn as it can have adverse effects. You may inadvertently be transporting amphibian diseases to a new pond or be moving invasive, non-native plants that could take over (see our Just Add Water booklet for more info). There is also a chance that moving spawn to a pond already containing frogspawn could be too much, with the pond unable to support a larger population. Conversely, there may be a reason if a pond has no frogspawn – the pond may be unsuitable or have lots of frogspawn predators.”

source: Froglife

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Permalink Reply by 29xjyxgr5avkm on February 5, 2020 at 11:16

Thank you Liz for your advice and the article information.

Regards

Deborah

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Permalink Reply by maggie on February 4, 2020 at 10:11

Build a pond and they will come. Its amazing how frogs will find a pond though on an allotment site the chances are that they have already been around to sus out the new accommodation and if it suits they will spawn. Let us know if you have success.

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Permalink Reply by 29xjyxgr5avkm on February 4, 2020 at 16:02

Philip non yet in my pond, but if all else fails for you, happy for you to take some when it appears. Have given some to most of my neighbours in the past

regards

Deborah