Kind of a take on Steve Gringold’s excellent Nature Photography Blog, and his wonderful ‘Frog Friday’ series. I came across this one today, a Friday, in the back garden. This is quite a large and well-marked one.
Friday Frog
Tag: Common Frog Rana temporaria
The Frogs Are Back!
x4 images. Double click to enlarge.
Back in February I noticed the frogs had did their thing and laid eggs in small clumps initially. Then as the days passed the pond was quite full of eggs!
And there appeared to be no stopping them.
I spotted around 3 frogs amidst the plant growth and frogspawn, appearing quite content.
I even found one out and about skirting the perimeter. Now the pond is alive with young tadpoles eating algae off the stones.
Venturing Onto Land
Common Frog (Rana temporaria) – At 12 mm(1/2 in) long, I just about spotted this little froglet in the garden pond. How quickly it has grown. I spied its younger siblings still with their tails, feeding on algae beneath the water, but this one will now be carniverous as it ventures out onto land for the first time.
Double-click image for a closer look.
Hunting & Hunted
Common Frog (Rana temporaria) – Life in the garden pond can be quite a challenge. As featured in a previous post, I watched damselflies hunting flies, snatching them out of the air. Now, as newly emerging damselfies are leaving the water where they have been as larvae for the past year or so, I have seen the frogs leaping out the water in a bid to hunt them for food. There are around 3 or 4 frogs in the pond, as well as all the tadpoles. As if the frogs were not enough, I was but a couple of feet away from a little bird, a Dunnock, as it snatched a freshly emerged damselfy off its perch within the pond. Yet there were dameslflies mating on the margins, coupling to ensure another future generation. Triumph and tragedy in its own little ecosystem.
© Peter Hillman ♦ 7th May 2020 ♦ Rear garden, South Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Growing Bigger
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
Teeming Tadpoles
The tadpoles are growing fast feeding on the algae in the garden pond. Double-click image for a closer look.
© Peter Hillman ♦ 8th April 2020 ♦ Rear garden, Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
Frogs Are Coming
Common Frog (Rana temporaria) – This is an early stage tadpole, and I appear to have zillions of these teeming in my small garden pond at the moment. Note the branch-like appendages either side of the head … these are external gills, which as the tadpole develops will become wrapped in a pocket of skin to become internal. Amazing to think that this little fellow, if all goes well, will become a frog! Double-click for a closer peek.
Copyright: Peter Hillman
Camera used: Nikon D7200
Date taken: 16th March 2020
Place: Rear garden, Staffordshire
Getting Bigger
I have noticed how big the young frogs are now growing in the garden pond. I spied four of them amongst the Water Mint and pond weed poking their heads out the water.
Feel free to click the images to enlarge and click again to get even closer …
© Pete Hillman August 2019
Staying Alive
I wondered where all my tadpoles had gone. Spotted a couple of little juvenile frogs today hiding under a piece of bark in my back yard. Below how it began life feeding on algae in the pond into the carnivorous creature above. It is one way to keep the slugs down. Nature is trully a wonderful thing!
July 2019, rear garden, South Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Froggy Has A Close Call
… with the green waste recycling bin. Whenever I wheel my green waste bin I am now cautious. For the little frogs and toads take to hiding under a little recess beneath the bin during the day, and if I don’t tilt the bin forward I would most likely squish them, or drag them with the bin. This evening I found two toads under the bin which quickly vanished under the shed. This is a Common Frog (Rana temporaria), I took the other day, which was also discovered hiding under the bin. They must gather beneath the bin in readiness for those all night pool parties they have! 🙂
Click once to expand view, click again to get that little bit closer
July 2018, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Frogs Partying In The Night Pool
The other night I caught a couple of frogs in and around the garden pond. With temperatures in the high twenties amd touching thirty who can blame them? 🙂
Click once to expand view, click again to get that little bit closer
Common Frog Rana temporaria, , July 2018, rear garden pond, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Spot The Beastie
Common Frog (Rana temporaria), September 2017, rear garden pond, Staffordshire, England.
In The Night Pool III
Out in my garden in the dark hours my torch fell on the first frog I have seen in my small pond. He or she had slime on its nose but appeared quite happy taking a dip amongst the pond plants.
Common Frog (Rana temporaria), rear garden pond, Staffordshire, England. June 2017.
Nature Journeys 