Common Frog (Rana temporaria) – I can’t believe what a frenzy of activity is going on in the garden pond at the moment. It is teeming with tadpoles and all of them are scraping algae from the rocks, so much so some of them are virtually picked clean. They have grown so much bigger, too. Double-click images to enlarge.
© Peter Hillman ♦ 24th April 2020 ♦ Rear garden, South Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Nature Journeys 
After they develop and emerge, do they sing? I can imagine the chorus you’re anticipating!
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I do like the frog chorus at night, but many of these little ones won’t make the fight towards adulthood unfortunately, and only but a few may make it, but that should be enough to keep another generation going.
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What happens to them? Do they become prey for some other creature? Die from lack of food?
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Most likely become prey. I saw dragonfly larvae attacking them in the pond the other day. Birds may eat them also. They are amazing to watch as they swim with such agility around the pond, forever feeding.
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Thanks for the info – it’s quite interesting!
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🙂
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It’s happening here, too — but with fish. There’s so much bait in the water it’s almost unbelievable — little shad and such. It’s not just spring for the flowers!
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All life is indeed on the move and flowing towards summer!
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Very shallow dof but great detail on the eye makes me not care about it. I especially like the first one.
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Thank you 🙂 Yes the eye is quite creepy, and just before I took this shot it kind of rotated in the socket. But we can see how they are begining to show a likeness for their adult future selves.
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Sounds like they are regular little ‘vacuum cleaners’. I can’t help but wonder how many survive and grow into frogs.
As children, we lived in an undeveloped area and used to go through the thick bushland on the opposite side of our road to an old dark deep well to collect tadpoles to observe back at home. Can’t remember what we did with them, but I do remember that it was a very deep well/pond and our parents always told us off in the strongest language, because neither my older brother or I could swim and it would have been a disaster if we’d fallen in and our parents never knew where we were.
Lucky you get to study the tadpoles and watch them grow in their natural surroundings. (am I right in assuming your health is much improved now?)
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That deep well/pond sounds exciting but kind of scary, too.
That is a very good way of describing their feeding habits, Vicki … like regular little ‘vacuum cleaners’, and I guess they are just that. Yesterday I noticed a well developed damselfly nymph, and it was attacking one of the tadpoles, probably after it for food. Yet it is the most I have seen in the pond, and they appear to spend all their time feeding. It must take a lot of energy to turn into a frog.
Thank you for asking, I am feeling brighter but the breathlessness and fatigue still remains, and because of Covid-19 I will have to wait a few months before I can have further tests done on my lungs. I am determined not to let it pull me down so I still try to get out, avoiding people as I am in the shielded group, but enjoying the nature which helps so much mentally and physically.
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Good to hear you’re able to get out and about even a little bit, but sorry to hear your lungs are still an issue. Take care, Pete. Keep your spirits up at this difficult time 🙂
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I really appreciate that, thank you, Vicki 🙂 Stay safe and be well there.
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You must have an interesting photographic record of the life cycle of the frogs in your pond.
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Yes, it has been interesting documenting their growth.
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You are fortunate to have a ringside seat to their development.
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I am 🙂
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Wow I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen eyes on tadpoles. Obviously they have them, but as little black squiggles, it takes macrovision for me to see them.
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The tadpoles have gone mad this year, and because of my illnes I have been unable to clean fallen leaves from the pond and this has added to an excess growth of algae. Yet these little tadpoles are cleaning it all up for me even scraping the rocks clean. They even come into the shallows and allow me to take their pics. They are fascinating to watch. I just hope they do not run out of algae before they have grown legs and left the pond as wee froglets.
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They are being very helpful. You provide a safe home for them, they clean it.
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How wonderful … more frogs on the way!
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Yes, Julie! 🙂 But it is only a small pond, and I just hope the plant material can sustain them all.
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