The annual invasion

For the Twitchers amongst us
User avatar
Happy Hayes
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4255
Joined: Sun Jan 04 2015 16:11
Location: Essex

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Happy Hayes »

Actually found one in the pond
Now it’s gone , hope the fish haven’t had him :cry:
Regards
Tom
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Happy Hayes wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 21:42 -
Actually found one in the pond
Now it’s gone , hope the fish haven’t had him :cry:
Regards
Tom
A newt?
User avatar
Happy Hayes
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4255
Joined: Sun Jan 04 2015 16:11
Location: Essex

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Happy Hayes »

davelumb wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 21:48 -
Happy Hayes wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 21:42 -
Actually found one in the pond
Now it’s gone , hope the fish haven’t had him :cry:
Regards
Tom
A newt?
Sorry Mr Lumb ,
A Frog 🐸
Regards
Tom
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Happy Hayes wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 21:53 -
davelumb wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 21:48 -
Happy Hayes wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 21:42 -
Actually found one in the pond
Now it’s gone , hope the fish haven’t had him :cry:
Regards
Tom
A newt?
Sorry Mr Lumb ,
A Frog 🐸
Regards
Tom
I reckon they'd have to be big fish to eat a frog.
User avatar
Happy Hayes
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4255
Joined: Sun Jan 04 2015 16:11
Location: Essex

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Happy Hayes »

In with the koi’s
I’ve got a couple of Mirror carp that must go double figures.
The pond is roughly 5 foot deep with a raised edge with coping stones on the top hanging over the water .
As I don’t have a island, l don’t know how a frog etc could get out of the pond .
On the odd occasions that I’ve seen them they squeeze between the liner and the coping stone .
This year I’ll be constructing a floating island,hopefully giving them somewhere to rest up .
Regards
Tom
User avatar
Freako
Chub
Chub
Posts: 1832
Joined: Thu Sep 29 2011 05:00
Location: Foxes Country

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Freako »

davelumb wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 19:41 -
Freako wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 19:36 -
Frog pics are easy.
When you have a tame (plastic) frog! :tongues:

Counted five newts in my pond today. :grin:
:thumbs:
Mick.
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Happy Hayes wrote: Mon Apr 15 2019 22:22 -
In with the koi’s
I’ve got a couple of Mirror carp that must go double figures.
The pond is roughly 5 foot deep with a raised edge with coping stones on the top hanging over the water .
As I don’t have a island, l don’t know how a frog etc could get out of the pond .
On the odd occasions that I’ve seen them they squeeze between the liner and the coping stone .
This year I’ll be constructing a floating island,hopefully giving them somewhere to rest up .
Regards
Tom
Poor froggy. :pale:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

I've finally got a new liner for the pond which was rapidly shrinking. Today I evicted three frogs and I put thousands of tadpoles in two buckets while I put the liner in. Fingers crossed some of them will survive. I left some of the sludge from the bottom of the pond in the buckets and have put them in the pond for the time being. I'll let the water settle a day or two before topping it up and finishing the work.

While re-profiling the pond I thought I'd found a dead newt. It's legs were rigid but it's tail limp and it didn't look dead despite not moving. I put it on a rock and went for a camera. When I got back it had crawled off the rock and was trying to get under it! I knew some creatures feign death when a predator is around, but I didn't know newts are one of them.

Image

Cannibalism.

Image

More tadpoles than water.
Image

Image

I overestimated the size of liner I needed...

Image
Kev Berry

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Kev Berry »

Not a dead newt Dave, probably another p****d one :laughs: :coat:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Kev Berry wrote: Sat May 25 2019 22:41 -
Not a dead newt Dave, probably another p****d one :laughs: :coat:
I hadn't considered that possibility!

:laughs:

I wonder if this paralytic behaviour is where the phrase originates? :grin:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Things are looking better now. And there are froglets.

Image
User avatar
Happy Hayes
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4255
Joined: Sun Jan 04 2015 16:11
Location: Essex

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Happy Hayes »

Very nice
Mr Lumb :thumbs:
Regards
Tom
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Cheers.

Plants next.
Kev Berry

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Kev Berry »

You need a few of your favourite friends on there, or is the lawnmower broke? :laughs:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Kev Berry wrote: Sat Jun 01 2019 12:04 -
You need a few of your favourite friends on there, or is the lawnmower broke? :laughs:
Baaa. :grin:


That's a patch I leave wild for nature, Kev. It'll give the froglets somewhere to hide too. :thumbs:
Kev Berry

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Kev Berry »

davelumb wrote: Sat Jun 01 2019 16:04 -
Kev Berry wrote: Sat Jun 01 2019 12:04 -
You need a few of your favourite friends on there, or is the lawnmower broke? :laughs:
Baaa. :grin:


That's a patch I leave wild for nature, Kev. It'll give the froglets somewhere to hide too. :thumbs:
I had an inkling it might have been left on purpose---frogs love long grass, nice and moist and full of frog food :thumbs:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Kev Berry wrote: Sat Jun 01 2019 16:11 -
davelumb wrote: Sat Jun 01 2019 16:04 -
Kev Berry wrote: Sat Jun 01 2019 12:04 -
You need a few of your favourite friends on there, or is the lawnmower broke? :laughs:
Baaa. :grin:


That's a patch I leave wild for nature, Kev. It'll give the froglets somewhere to hide too. :thumbs:
I had an inkling it might have been left on purpose---frogs love long grass, nice and moist and full of frog food :thumbs:
Yup. :grin:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Still got tadpoles but some of these little uns too now.

Image
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Ponds are great. She didn't stick around for long, but might be back. :smile:

Image
User avatar
Freako
Chub
Chub
Posts: 1832
Joined: Thu Sep 29 2011 05:00
Location: Foxes Country

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Freako »

Gonna be great that Dave.
Mick.
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

The newts are back after the draining and relining. :smile:

Gotta get some plants in now.
User avatar
Freako
Chub
Chub
Posts: 1832
Joined: Thu Sep 29 2011 05:00
Location: Foxes Country

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Freako »

davelumb wrote: Tue Jun 18 2019 18:47 -
The newts are back after the draining and relining. :smile:

Gotta get some plants in now.
That's great news mate.
Mick.
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Freako wrote: Wed Jun 19 2019 22:41 -
davelumb wrote: Tue Jun 18 2019 18:47 -
The newts are back after the draining and relining. :smile:

Gotta get some plants in now.
That's great news mate.
It should look much better by the end of summer, and with more life in it to get the newts and frogs back next spring.
Chris Hammond
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4072
Joined: Sun Apr 14 2019 08:14

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Chris Hammond »

Any idea whether the idea that frogs always return to the pond where they were born to spawn holds any water Dave? The reason I ask is because I've put a jar full o tadpoles from a friends pond into my little bird bath/wildlife pond and I'm wondering if it will ensure I have frogs in the future? As I said to my mate, if they only return to the pond where their parents spawned them there would be a single pond somewhere in the world heaving with frogs in the spring. :grin:
I don't care who your dad is , you're not walking across the river when I'm fishing!
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

All I know is that I've had more frogs come to my pond each year. I was astounded by having thirty or so in the first coup0le of years - I had 90 odd last year a few less this year as the pond was drained.

They bypass a neighbour's little pond to get to mine too! :laughs:
smallpond.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Chris Hammond
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4072
Joined: Sun Apr 14 2019 08:14

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Chris Hammond »

I guess I'll find out next spring. :-)
I don't care who your dad is , you're not walking across the river when I'm fishing!
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Chris Hammond wrote: Fri Jun 21 2019 19:29 -
I guess I'll find out next spring. :-)
:thumbs:
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

It's amazing how creatures find their way into an empty pond. I was fishing out some duckweed (that stuff appears by magic!) and found a tiny pond snail on the net. Had it somehow got transferred from the original pond water or arrived on a bird's foot? :laughs:

I counted four newts today, which is only one less than were around before. The fifth might be hiding somewhere. Will have to go plant hunting soon.

Image
Chris Hammond
Barbel
Barbel
Posts: 4072
Joined: Sun Apr 14 2019 08:14

Re: The annual invasion

Post by Chris Hammond »

I fetched a pair of frogs out of a footing trench today. I always check before casting the foundation because for some odd reason if you dig a gert hole in someone's garden its like a magnet to frogs. I remember reading once that they are so short sighted that they never get to see the stars in the sky. Perhaps poor eyesight is the answer.
I don't care who your dad is , you're not walking across the river when I'm fishing!
User avatar
davelumb
Forum Sponsor
Forum Sponsor
Posts: 42345
Joined: Sat Aug 27 2011 05:00
Location: On some faraway beach
Contact:

Re: The annual invasion

Post by davelumb »

Nature still has it's mysteries, Chris. :smile:
Post Reply