Comments on: Froggiemergency

By: Paula D`Arcy

Paula D`Arcy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:28:50 +0000

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for replying. Yep..it was “tap” water should`v known better, but the

penny only dropped after I read your mail! My solution (comments

welcome) has been to pump out all of the water,(veg & flowers to benefit)

clean it then allow it to re-fill with rain water

By: Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:55:25 +0000

Hi Paula

What sort of water did you fill the new pond with?

How long is it since it was filled?

And do you have a photo of the two ponds you could send me (you can send them to jbiggs@pondconservation.org.uk).

I’ll have a go at a diagnosis then. Though I don’t promise to know the answer!

Jeremy

By: paula darcy

paula darcy — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:29:03 +0000

Help.. I have just built a med sized pond next to our tiny pre-formed cracked one. i filled it put oxygenating weed into it but it has still turned green. the tiny one is crystal clear with many taddies & frogs at various stages of developement.what should I be doing ?

By: Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:23:25 +0000

Dear Suzan – I don’t know if this is a bumper year or not. Newts like plenty of cover so maybe the extra plants under the water have helped. Just yesterday I was looking at a garden pond in Exeter that was absolutely full of the plant rigid hornwort, and with a couple of sieve scoops in an area no more than 30 x 50 cm we found about 10 palmate newts.

If you had any pics of the pond it might be interesting to put them up on the blog (you can send them to me to do this). And you might like to do the Big Pond Dip survey too.

Jeremy

By: Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:15:50 +0000

Hi Clive

That sounds brilliant – do you have any pics of the unmown area? I think they’d be interesting to show people. It doesn’t seem possible for readers to post pics to the blog at present, but if you sent me something I’d love to put it up. Jeremy

By: Suzan St Maur

Suzan St Maur — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:59:47 +0000

We’ve seen a couple of baby frogs on the terrace beside our tiny (think double the size of a large bathtub) human-made pond in the last few days … and have had to rescue them from our cats.

Every year we get a large frog population in the little pond and a few newts. However this year, along with the frogs we seem to have had an explosion in the newt population – at one stage last month I counted over 20 adults that I could see near the surface at one time, and I have to assume there are many more lurking at lower depths.

Is this normal, or is 2009 a bumper year for newts? I haven’t changed anything in the pond other than to drop in barley straw nets to clear algae, plus some watercress along with other oxygenating plants.

By: Clive Palmer

Clive Palmer — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:43:15 +0000

Last year as a way to do my part for global warming, I only mowed half my lawns, leaving about quarter acre to grow wild. Late September I decided to tidy up the unmown grass and just as I was about to start I noticed a tiny black frog, upon further investigation I found the whole area to be inundated with tiny frogs. what a lovely feeling to think that my effort had provided a home for, perhaps hundreds of frogs. This year a larger area will be left unmown.