Trevor Theobald from Spittal in the far west of Wales reports to us frog spawn yesterday, the 5th Feb.
He’s certainly in the right place for it because south, west and mid Wales are traditionally amongst the earliest places in Britain for frogs to spawn.
UPDATE: Neil has pointed to another record, on the WildAboutBritain forum, from Cornwall, also yesterday here.
UPDATED AGAIN: And an even earlier one – here on Nature’s Calendar.
See the maps below: one produced by Maxwell Savage 50 years ago and a more recent one based on modern recording (which also indicates that spawning is getting a bit earlier too).
Contour maps (a) from Savage (1961) showing the date of first appearance (day of year) of frogspawn for the period 1938–1947, and in colour (the lower map) updated showing the date of first appearance (day of year) of frogspawn for the period 1998–2007. ‘Day number’ refers to the days after January 1st. The coloured map is from this paper. If you want a full copy of the paper, e-mail the authors who will (usually) send you one free of charge if its for a serious, non-profit use.
So, can anyone beat 5th February?
The Garden Pond Blog 
February 6, 2011 at 3:41 pm |
Looks like there is some in cornwall too:
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/reptile-and-amphibian-forums/80742-first-spawn.html#post730184
February 6, 2011 at 11:00 pm |
My pond had 3 croaking frogs last night.I dug it Oct 2009 but had no frogs in spring 2010,so I added a small amount of borrowed spawn which produced about 20 large young frogs.Is it possible that the current croakers are last year’s youngsters,or must they be new colonists?I thought frogs took 2-3 years to mature.Thanks.
February 7, 2011 at 12:17 pm |
I found frozen frogspawn at 420m on the top of Exmoor near Simonsbath on January 7th 2010. It was lying on snow beside a frozen ditch.
I had the first spawn in my garden pond in Exeter on the night of Feb 4th – 5th.
February 7, 2011 at 2:23 pm |
Hi Mary-Rose – Is the record of spawn in your garden this year or 2010?
All the best
Jeremy
February 9, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Sorry, 2011 – haven’t caught up with myself yet!
February 9, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Both records – Exmoor and Exter are from this year 2011.
February 7, 2011 at 5:46 pm |
We found frogspawn yesterday (6th Feb) in Great Combe, on the edge of Dartmoor. I wish we’d checked a couple of days ago!
February 9, 2011 at 2:19 pm |
Hello, first frogspawn seen on the local golfcourse here in Carradale,Kintyre, yesterday 8th feb 11 .
February 9, 2011 at 10:47 pm |
I live in Blaenau Gwent and I found loads of frog spawn last week in 2 ponds on the mountainside above our house.The higher pond is approx .1200feet above sea level.Most of it will be predated but I’m hoping some will survive.
February 13, 2011 at 12:07 pm |
Wednesday morning 9th February a small patch of spawn but no movement on the small (5 sq mtre) pond in our garden. Overnight rain and milder and Thursday morning 10/2 counted over 50 frogs active in the water.
We dug the pond four year’s ago when the neighbour filled his (after removing residents) to provide extra parking !! and the next winter we had to collect the puzzled frogs on a few damp mild evenings and carry them a few yards further to our new pond. Their GPS seems to have worked unaided since then. Location, Dawlish, Devon.
February 16, 2011 at 12:39 pm |
I live 10 mile S.E.Plymouth & I first noticed Frogs Spawn on 2nd Feb & frogs are still at it 🙂
February 19, 2011 at 12:54 pm |
first frog spawn here in gosport on 19th feb
February 21, 2011 at 1:28 pm |
over the past 20 years we have had loads of frogspawn until the past two years when there was nothing. we live in the suberbs of plymouth surrounded by woodland with a small stream nearby. my wife has kept records of the first frogspawn right back to 1989. next door neighbours have two cats who spen d a lot of time by the pond. are there any frog experts out who can explain this situation. incidentally there was a dead fully grown frog in the pond two weeks ago.
February 22, 2011 at 7:12 pm |
Since 1989 when we first aquired our pond we have had frog spawn every year without fail,but none last year and as yet none this year.My wife has religiously kept records on the dates we first noticed spawn ranging from some years December and some years February. A few weeks ago my wife found a dead fully grown frog in the pond which we have not had before, and our next door neighbours cats spend a lot of time around the pond. Help you experts out there , where have our frogs gone . Loads of newts, but alas no frogs.
February 27, 2011 at 4:22 pm |
Jim & Norah
If you have a small garden pond with lots of newts your frogs
will slowly disappear. The newts will eat all the tadpoles if their
numbers are left unchecked. If you want frogs breeding in your
pond I would suggest you relocate 90% of your newt population.
presuming they are only common newts ?
February 25, 2011 at 5:47 pm |
I live in West Yorkshire & after finding about 20 dead frogs in my small pond, I have been looking every morning hoping that at least 2 frogs had overwintered on land. So I was really glad to see one lot of frogspawn this morning. I know it may not be fertilised, but I do hope it is!
February 26, 2011 at 7:35 pm |
LEICESTER, I HAVE A LARGE NATURE POND, WE HAVE BABY FROGS SWIMMING ABOUT AND NEWTS, 25TH FEB 2011.
February 28, 2011 at 11:18 am |
on 26th Feb 2011 we had an adult female carrying a small younger frog on it’s back higher up
it was making passage through our garden (as others always do)
towards a neighbouring pond we think
anyhow this adult was going very tentative so we carefully lifted across on doing this the younger frog that adult was carrying started to let out a call sound (trill) has anyone else seen or had the same experience ???
February 28, 2011 at 11:47 pm |
I have at least 25 frogs many have paired and still laying lots of spawn. Many of them have bred since I built their home 6 years ago here in Slough. Berks. I have since built a new 5ft deep Koi pond where I lift out any frogs that find their way down the 7 metre stream and put them back into their pond. I guess they like the warmer water in my solar heated Koi pond. It has kept to over 11 degs all this winter in spite of all the overnight frosts since October.
March 13, 2011 at 11:38 am |
At last I have frog spawn! Had been feeling quite smug earlier in the year as we had no frog mortalities which I put down to keeping our pump going all winter to circulate oxygenated water. Then, by late February, having seen no sign of frogs (dead or alive) in the pond I began to wonder if the lack of dead frogs just meant there weren’t any frogs in the pond at all. However, a few days ago at least a couple of dozen appeared – lively and very noisy – and this morning…SPAWN. My pond is quite heavily shaded in winter and takes quite a while to warm up I guess.
March 14, 2011 at 5:52 am |
Interesting to hear all that Sue – shady pond with spawn (interesting, as people say ponds should be out in open), and pump keeping mortalities at bay. Do you think you’ve got frogs in winter – it always seems hard to be certain without a huge amount of poking about!
March 16, 2011 at 11:48 am
Hi Jeremy – really no idea if there were actually any frogs in the pond over winter. They were certainly there in spring, summer and early autumn before the big freeze struck. I do have a wood pile close to the pond so it’s possible they were there over winter although temperatures here (Vale of York) were so low for such a long period that I’m pretty sure the pile and ground beneath would have been frozen solid. Ice on the pond (except where the pump kept it open) was a good 5cm thick for several weeks.
P.S. Frogs still spawning despite much cooler weather here.
March 14, 2011 at 7:49 am |
LOTS OF ACTIVITY IN POND! WHEN I DIG THE GARDEN, I THROW SOME GRUBS, INSECTS AND WORMS IN THE POND! [LEICESTER]
March 15, 2011 at 9:39 pm |
Some frogs will overwinter in the pond (mostly males) and some on land.
I have marsh frogs in my pond and they always hibernate in the water but this spring I have so far only seen 1 so I fear the worst. 8 clumps of
common spawn last time I looked.
March 18, 2011 at 5:22 pm |
We have only just got frogspawn in our ponds (Shropshire) and the first lot was attached to bits of frog! Do you think it was attacked or split open somehow? I took some photos but can’t work out how to send them!
January 22, 2012 at 2:39 pm |
Try again to leave a comment (yesterdays seems not to have popped-up) – First frogspawn yesterday 21st January 2012 in my pond in Plymouth. So, that’s a couple of weeks earlier than expected. Comments?
January 22, 2012 at 7:24 pm |
Thanks Keith.
Do fill in Big Spawn Count forms: we’re after maximum spawn count as we’re seeing if its possible to get handle on garden frog population sizes – so keep an eye out to see if you get any more spawn later before filling in the form.
Jeremy
January 26, 2012 at 11:25 am |
Frogs spawned here in Plymouth on the 18/1/2012 in garden pond have seen up to 12 frogs.
March 2, 2012 at 7:02 pm |
Frog spawn in my pond in Whitstable Kent on 24th Feb one day earlier than last year !