Katiso, mine are still spawning! I've never seen so much spawn as this year... I'm hoping we don't get a late frost, because that always kills off half of it.
Here are some of the frogs in our pond, taking amplexus to extreme levels- and I'm kicking myself for not realising the bottom two weren't in focus.
I was seeing newts every day several weeks ago, but haven't spotted one since the frogs started spawning... I don't know where they've all gone, unless they're in the middle of the spawn eating.
I've had to put out another 'nursery' pond basket for the frogs today, full of hornwort and watercress. I've only got one basket left, so I hope they're nearly finished.
No tadpoles as of yet- the colder weather seems to have slowed down the development of the spawn.
The pond is a bit murky at the moment- it should clear later once it's sunny enough for me to put the aerator out, but I did catch a glimpse of a newt coming up for air.
Trailcam caught a brief sighting of a Barred grass snake early this afternoon. 1st one this year and I suspect a different individual from last year as this one has virtually no dorsal pattern - or can/do they change their pattern/colour as they grow?
I don't know about the change in pattern, but what a fortunate positioning of your trailcam to capture that!
Is that the reason you keep yours so low to the ground? Ours is up on an old tripod (anchored to a firebasket to keep it steady) and lately all I seem to see are cats at 3:00 in the morning.
I don't know about the change in pattern, but what a fortunate positioning of your trailcam to capture that!
Is that the reason you keep yours so low to the ground? Ours is up on an old tripod (anchored to a firebasket to keep it steady) and lately all I seem to see are cats at 3:00 in the morning.
Most of what I seem to record are mice, voles and birds on the ground (used to include hedgehogs) and getting close to ground with close-up lenses seems to produce most results. Most nights it captures 20+ clips but only a few are worth keeping. I mount mine using a ground spike with a small ball swivel head adaptor (I can provide links if you are interested but they'd be to a commercial site = advertising?). Even after that the bottom of the trailcam is still 4" above the ground (but that seems to work OK).
(Wrong forum area) but last year the ditch/hedgerow along one side of my garden was just mice (every night). This year a few mouse clips but most seem to be bank(?) voles - mice doing badly, voles doing well (but it's still early in the year for populations to change). That said there is a farm building 30 m the other side f the ditch/hedgerow where they do keep dried food so maybe they do stuff that can affect populations.
Noticed the first tiny froglet hopping around this morning near the pond- first I've seen so far, though seen a few large tadpoles with back legs. By contrast I scooped 2 tiny tadpoles up yesterday when removing duckweed. They looked as though they'd hardly grown but put them back in the water.
Quite a few recently emerged froglets scattered around the garden. Last week a large adult seemed to be about a foot up some Gipsywort & landed on the patio in front of me.