Comments for The Garden Pond Blog

Comment on Should I break the ice on my pond? The answers. by roy craven

roy craven — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:11:14 +0000

In the big freeze of 2010 our ponds (one about 1.5 acres and one about 0.75 acres) coped well for over 5 weeks with no holes cut in the ice. We lost a few fish but the main casualties were frogs and moorhens. The depth makes a big difference though: the deeper the pond the more chance the fish have to survive. I am told that they go into a natural, almost hibernation, state. I was amazed to see fish as small as 1.5 inches alive after the thaw.

Comment on Is this the UKs first frog spawn? by Chris

Chris — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:25:08 +0000

Frogs spawned here in Plymouth on the 18/1/2012 in garden pond have seen up to 12 frogs.

Comment on Is this the UKs first frog spawn? by Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:24:20 +0000

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

Comment on Is this the UKs first frog spawn? by Keith Hiscock

Keith Hiscock — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:39:05 +0000

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?

Comment on Kingfisher numbers: up or down? by Lawn Sand Gary

Lawn Sand Gary — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:52:11 +0000

Here in Bolton we have the river croal that was once a very poluted river.

Over the past 7 or 8 years many volunteers have cleaned up the banks and the council and have installed a walking path that runs between the river and Southport to Bolton trainline.

The difference is amazing. The river now runs clear and holds a good stock of trout, chub and roach.

The abundance of fish fry has attracted herons but more importantly Kingfishers.

We walk the length of the river several evenings per week and the Kingfisher can be seen right into Bolton town centre where the river croal seeps beneath the town.

Over a 2.5 mile stretch of the river I am counted two breeding pairs.

I would say in my area the Kingfisher population has certainly increased and they are a most welcome and eye pleasing creature.

Comment on The dead frog pond by Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:11:10 +0000

Hi Danielle

I’m afraid I’m not really an amphibian expert – I know the biology of the few we have in the UK, but species we don’t have here I’m not much use on (well, really no use!). And looking at where this frog lives I’m guessing you’re about as far away from the UK as it’s possible to be!

Maybe try gently aerating the water? If there are toxins building up this often will get rid of them. But I really am guessing – was their enough food? Any signs of disease?

Sorry not to be more help.

Jeremy

Comment on The dead frog pond by Danielle

Danielle — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 02:11:45 +0000

I have domestic frogs in a tank, a bought 5 little tadpoles from a pet store and over the next two weeks they all died, even though I have been extremely careful at looking after them and have cleaned the tank, and water alot. I don’t know why they have all mysteriously died. They look almost asleep so it is easy to overlook them, and then I noticed they didn’t move and they were all dead. Do you have any idea what is happening? Is it some sort of disease? My species is a whistling brown tree frog.

Comment on Edging the pond by Robert Vickery

Robert Vickery — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:39:28 +0000

We dug a pond a few years ago and surrounded it with a row of paving slabs between it and the lawn, but I was horrified to find tiny frogs emerging onto the paving and getting stuck in hot weather. It seems that it is a real hazard as their feet dry out too quickly and they dry onto the paving. I spent a lot of time using a watering can to cool it down and removed some slabs, Where plants grow over the edge of the pond it helps them the frogs to climb out, and I have let that happen for most of one edge.

Comment on Pond conductivity by Elliot

Elliot — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:52:28 +0000

Hi Jeremy,

Many thanks for your input. Your quite right with respect to salmonid species, however for the point of the article and ponds, normally keeping cyprinid species, I have angled my reponse towards this. Hence the lower limit I recommended of 200ms for a garden pond and wished only to help people with this.
I hope this was ok and fully appreciate your post and it was a pleasure reading and conversing with you on such a topic.

Comment on Pond conductivity by Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:44:43 +0000

Hi Elliott – I don’t really agree. Conductivity is used by freshwater biologists all over the world including this country – it’s certainly not particularly ‘American’. The Environment Agency, for example, would make probably 100′s of thousands of routine conductivity measurements. And there must be thousands of waterbodies out there in the countryside that have plenty of fish, and conductivities below 200. I expect that many western and northern salmon rivers, for example, would have conductivities well below this. I guess in captivity it is harder to keep some cyprinid type fish (and perhaps many others too) in low conductivity water, and as you say some fish do have quite tricky osmoregulatory requirements.

Jeremy