Frogs
These are the only frogs we have now.
We still
have newts.
Damselflies
Dragonflies
. . . and other watery beasties and little creatures that come for a drink of water - they don't care if it's not crystal clear.
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I heard quite a few frogs this spring but for the last few years I was lucky to herr one frog.
ReplyDeleteEvery February I hope to hear them, but am always disappointed.
DeleteWe still have a thriving and noisy population of frogs, I'm glad to say. I love all the species of dragonflies and demoiselles. Plenty of them around. Some years we have many toads, others hardly any, mystery where they go and how they reappear.
ReplyDeleteWe have a toad - or I think we do. Haven't seen it for a long time.
DeleteWe used to get quite a few frogs in our pond, too. No more. The decimation of the amphibian population is real and not a good sign for our environment. Sitting by my pond this afternoon, I was happy to see both dragonflies and damselflies present.
ReplyDeleteWe assumed it was a combination of poor pond management and fish. Fish eat frogspawn and tadpoles, but some always survived. Then all the fish disappeared . . .
DeleteI've never seen a real frog in my pond, it's been there for over a year, there is no route for them to come in, we have blocked one boundary fence because of the rats.
ReplyDeleteThe only way would be to introduce some frogspawn in the spring, perhaps from a friend or neighbour.
DeleteOur next door neighbour has a pond and always seems to have plenty of frogspawn each Spring. We often find frogspawn in our garden so his little Kermit community must be thriving.
ReplyDeleteIt's unusual to find frogspawn anywhere other than water. Perhaps they're evolving!
Deleteoops! I meant that we often found frogs. My autocorrect changed it and I hadn't noticed!!!
DeleteI wonder what happened to your frogs, but plenty of other small beasties there.
ReplyDeleteWe, that is, he, cleaned out the pond, hoping that would help, but nothing happened. We do see an occasional frog.
DeleteThat's a thriving wildlife habitat even if it is lacking frogs.
ReplyDeleteAny frogs we do see are far away from the pond, in the front garden.
DeleteCreatures probably prefer your pond to be a bit overgrown. You certainly have a variety of visitors.
ReplyDeleteAll the fish disappeared overnight, too, a few years ago.
DeleteHello - First of all, WOW! What a lovely blog - The lack of frogs is probably due to a combination of things. Firstly the tadpoles need shallow water in which to thrive.Some open water where the sun can reach in order to warm it and thus accelerate their development. Secondly newts, dragonflies and damselflies will prey upon and eat the tadpoles too. It is all about balance, which you pretty much have. Thinning the pond is a scary prospect and risks upsetting the balance and losing key elements of the food chain. If there is a little shallow area that you could open up, it might produce dividends. Good luck and thank you for the posting.
ReplyDeleteWe also had ornamental fish and they eat spawn and tadpoles. They had happily, or tolerably, co-habited for years!
DeleteThen the fish disappeared overnight.We cleaned out the pond, refilled it, and still no frogs, though we do see the odd one now and then. We live in hope rather than expectation.
Thank you for your advice. 😊
The colour on the damselfly is an unbelievable blue-green. I am assuming that the males are glamorous and the females are a bit ordinary!
ReplyDeleteYes, you're right. The males are the peacocks of the dragonfly world.
DeleteA friend of mine had one frog in her little pond, it was funny, when the dogs came it swam towards them and they were allowed to sniff at it ! When my friend called it, it came. Never had seen a frog like that and and one day he had disappeared. The whole family was very sad !
ReplyDeleteAww, a pet frog - how sweet.
DeleteIt's a shame about the frogs disappearing. I think it's a bad situation the worldwide. Love the pictures of the damsel so flies and the dragonflies
ReplyDeleteWe have noticed wildlife declining in our garden, which is really sad, and we grow things specifically to encourage it.
DeleteYears ago there was another blogger with a backyard pond and she would often talk about frogs wandering off and disappearing
ReplyDeleteWe had frogs for years and years and looked forward to the spring shenanigans.
DeleteLove them very much. I used to track tropical insects when I used to visit Asia regularly. They are very nice
ReplyDeleteThat must have been amazing, and such a variety.
DeleteYou have some wonderful close up shots of the frogs, Janice. Even though the frogs seem to have taken a holiday away from your pond you have lots of interesting and beautiful visitors to your creature watering hole. I love the newts and damselflies.
ReplyDeleteIf we didn't have the photographs, we might have thought we'd never had frogs!
DeleteI heard frogs yesterday down by the swampy part of the trail, but I didn’t see any. The adjacent family with kids did, however.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that was late, but your spring arrives later than ours.
DeleteIt's funny that, as a kid, I would play with the frogs and toads and tadpoles and bugs and now, as an adult of sorts, I don't like the slimy things or the creepy crawlies.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of things we did as children that we wouldn't care to do as adults!
DeleteLove your frog photos, stunning
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to photograph them - I miss that, now.
Deletewondering if you could transplant some frogs from a neighboring pond ? Sad to lose the chorus! Global warming is going to challenge every living thing- rocks will be fine.
ReplyDeleteEvery spring we say that we'll transfer some spawn, but we're always too late, or lazy, or something.
DeleteWe have frogs in the garden in winter. Now the salamander have taken over, inside and out. I love watching them. The frogs seem to hibernate behind pot plants in the summer. We hope the wild cats don't eat them all
ReplyDeleteOur frogs used to hibernate in the mud at the bottom of the pond. Salamanders must be wonderful to watch.
DeleteThe more overgrown the better for nature's inhabitants as shown in your photos. I don't see frogs very often around our garden but enjoy them when we have been to parks.
ReplyDeleteYes, nature doesn't appreciate tidiness - just as well, for us! 🤣😂
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with the close-ups of the damsel and dragon flies etc!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Some are cropped from photographs, mostly taken by my husband. I'm a point and shoot and often miss photographer, though my iPhone is really helping! 🤣😂
DeleteWhen I had a compost pile I would often see tree frogs hanging out.
ReplyDeleteThey appear in the oddest places.
DeleteIt's lovely that your pond, even overgrown, has become such a haven for wildlife! It's a shame about the frogs disappearing, but it's great that the newts, damselflies, dragonflies, and other creatures are still thriving there.
ReplyDeleteLong may it last!
DeleteI have seen toads on my property (no pond but we have a nearby creek) but no frogs. My husband has fond memories of spring peepers peeping from his semi rural (turning suburban) childhood.
ReplyDeleteYour husband's memories chimed with me - our once quiet setting is becoming ever more urbanised and that's bound to have an impact on nature.
Deleteour frogs and toads have disappeared, either the drought or 3 hurricanes is probably the cause. our yard is so hot right now that an egg would fry on the pool deck. it feels like I can't breathe outside. We have always until the drought had rain almost daily, a good once a day downpour of 20 minutes and the tropics go crazy. now we don't have rain and they are gone. sad
ReplyDeleteThe world is going mad. Too much rain in some areas which don't normally have rain, too little or none where there used to be a reliable, regular amount. When will we wake up and stop destroying this planet?
DeleteOur frogs disappeared too. How did you get all those dragon/damselflies to pose for you?!
ReplyDeleteThey were so busy doing what comes naturally that they really didn't realise they were playing starring roles.
DeleteGreat pictures. When we were in Costa Rica we went to a frog museum and were introduced to a large variety of different frogs.
ReplyDeleteTha tmust have been so interesting. I'm glad we don't have any poisonous frogs in UK, though they are so attractive.
DeleteI miss frogs, too. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be something of a problem everywhere. Sad!
DeleteIf you are looking to clarify your pond, look at barley grass bags.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't tried those, but we did try the watercress trick. I can't remember now what the result was.
DeleteI don't mind dragonflies but I don't like seeing the wasps and hornets this time of year.
ReplyDeleteThe story goes that if you don't annoy them, they won't annoy you. If only we could all trust that!
DeleteShame you no longer have frogs, but you do have a nice variety of other wildlife that come and visit. Great photographs.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Sadly, each year the numbers seem to decrease, so I'm always delighted to see the little creatures.
ReplyDeleteSadly we never had any frogs in our pond, let alone newts! We do have damselflies and dragonflies aplenty though! xxx
ReplyDeleteThey're like winged jewels - I love to see them.
ReplyDeleteI really love your photos! Wonder why the frogs disappeared.
ReplyDeleteFish and frogs happily cohabited for years, and then they all disappeared and it wasn't the visiting heron that took them all.
Delete