Is spawn laid on 25 February early? Well – it all depends where you are in the country.
This time last year I posted copies of a couple of maps which show roughly when spawning takes place.
You can see them here.
So if you’re in south-west England, south and west Wales or one the south coast – now’s when spawning begins.
February 27, 2010 at 11:46 am |
About frogspawn… a friend saw lots in ponds on her farm on Dartmoor on 29 January. We put some in my pond last week and, though it has been frozen since, it looks fine today. However, I have heard of frogspawn turning black and apparently lifeless.
February 27, 2010 at 1:05 pm |
Hi Jane – I think any eggs that actually froze solid probably won’t survive – but since its unlikely the whole clump froze solid there should still be plenty that are pretty much be OK.
Last spring a few eggs on top of our clumps that were laid in the shallows and so partly out of the water were killed by the frost – but we still had hundreds of tadpoles.
Given that spawn is usually laid in shallow water I expect its common for clumps to lose a few eggs on the top to freezing like this.
Be interested to hear how you get on.
Jeremy