From the Big Pond Thaw submissions:
SUBMITTED DATA
Enter your nearest town and county
Nottingham
Enter your postcode
NG4
What sort of pond are you looking at?
garden pond
How big is your pond?
medium – up to 5 meters by 5 metres
Ice cover: roughly how long did ice cover the pond?
Longer
Did you make a hole in the ice?
No
Did you break the ice?
No
If yes, how often?
[No Data Supplied]
Snow cover: was the pond covered by snow?
Yes
Did you clear snow from your pond?
No
Roughly for how long did snow cover the pond?
1 week
How deep is your pond?
Deep (deeper than 60 cm or 2 feet)
In the pond do you have:
Edge plants (include grass)
Floating-leaved plants
Plants completely underwater
Is the pond filled by:
Mixture of tapwater and rainwater
Roughly what depth of leaf litter and sediment is there in the bottom of your pond?
Deep – more than 15 cm (6 inches)
Did you run a pump, fountain, heater or other device to keep the pond open during the freeze?
[No Data Supplied]
Other (list)
[No Data Supplied]
Do you have fish in your pond?
No
If you do have fish, what sort are they?
[No Data Supplied]
Did any of your fish die during or straight after the freeze?
[No Data Supplied]
Which, if any, fish died?
[No Data Supplied]
Do you have amphibians?
Yes
What sort are they (list)
Frogs and newts
Did you see any dead amphibians after the ice melted? Check the box if yes and give details of the number
Common Frog
Number of dead amphibians seen
50+
Did you see any dead smaller animals (e.g. mayflies, water beetles, dragonflies) after the ice melted? Tick yes or no and give brief details.
No
Details
Ice still not completely melted so there could be smaller animals still encesded in ice.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your pond?
Many of the frogs were frozen into the ice near the surface, there was a brief thaw before Xmas the ice partially melted it seemed as if the frogs came nearer the surface and then got trapped in the sudden severe refreeze. Last year I lost all my frog spawn the pond became rank, I wondered if after last winters freezing it became polluted with dead frogs.
First name
Pat
The Garden Pond Blog 
January 4, 2011 at 1:33 pm |
I wonder, as the frogs were reported frozen into the ice at the surface, whether they had died early on in the cold weather, then floated towards the surface and as the ice got thicker with the colder temperatures their dead bodies were simply incorporated in the ice. As it is reported to be a deep pond it would not have frozen completely and if the frogs had been alive they would not have been frozen into the ice.
January 5, 2011 at 4:16 pm |
Most of my pond is still frozen, just a bit round the edges has cleared. Only 2 dead frogs in sight so far.