Well the weather has certainly been warming up recently, bulbs are rising out of the ground but not yet in flower, and there is a lot of croaking going on in the pond. Spring must be in the air.
I was in the kitchen when I saw 2 bumblebees repeatedly hitting the kitchen window and was puzzled for a moment. Realised they were trying to get at the daffodils that were on the window ledge so I quickly put them outside and the bees...made a beeline for them. There is a distinct absence of any flowers in the garden at the moment.
A lot of croaking reverberating through the air, there are at least a dozen male frogs in the pond, of various ages, and 3 pairs in 'amplexus'.
I say 'pairs', but I mean really, in this case the female here seems to be in a bit of a sandwich !
Spawning suddenly appears imminent, the males frogs sense this and then it all kicks off...more males rush in towards this female in the middle of it all - any idea how many frogs are in this photo ?
And here's the end result, some lovely frogspawn, laid by the female and fertilised by the male(s)- notice the slight cloudiness
Fantastic pictures! How many frogs have you got in the garden?
Martin
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
82.16.211.55
cheers Phil, I counted at least 25 frogs of various ages, and about 3 mature females; the pond is completely chocka with spawn right now, I stopped counting after the 15th clump of spawn a few days ago !
