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What our animals are doing this month… November 2020

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We’ve recently covered what our amphibians and reptiles are up to over the autumn months, the differences in their overwintering behaviour and where they may spend the colder seasons in structures such as hibernacula. 

It might surprise many however to hear that November can be a month for sighting Common Frogspawn in the south of England.  Common frogs usually begin breeding and laying spawn as spring commences – often with sightings in January and February into spring depending on their location in the UK.  But areas in Cornwall do report sightings of frogspawn before winter even fully commences.

This behaviour could be due to confusion during mild autumn and winter months that we can experience now in the UK or might be a strategy to get ahead of the game in terms of breeding times – albeit it with a huge risk of freezing temperatures affecting the survivability of the spawn.

This could be one sign of more to come in terms of our amphibians adapting to the effects of climate change and seasonal differences their behaviour isn’t quite adapted to.  It’s so important that we can monitor these yearly trends in our amphibian and reptile species to help inform our work at Froglife and you can help by submitting your sightings using the Dragon Finder App – available for free on Android and iPhone devices!

Frogspawn in November? Surely not! But this sighting can occur in mild autumns in the south of England

What our animals are doing this month… January 2020

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It’s a new year for amphibians and reptiles! Whilst you might not think our species are very active at this time of the year one species may been seen laying eggs by the end of this month…

Our common frog breeds from their 2nd or 3rd year, often returning to the ponds from which they originally spawned.  Male frogs attract female frogs by ‘croaking’ – this is a soft repetitive sound which also serves to intimidate other males. 

Frogspawn might be seen from January onwards into March, with the first sightings of frogspawn often in the south-west of the UK.  The effects of unpredictable weather conditions can make it difficult for breeding common frog who use the temperature as a cue.  As we have the potential to experience mild winters this can be confusing.  These out of season warmer temperatures have even resulted in frogspawn sightings in October / November in the past!  Studies suggest that common frog spawning is becoming earlier – with research showing a 10C rise in temperature equating to a 5.1 day advance in frogspawn arrival (Carroll et al. 2009).

Frogspawn won’t survive freezing should colder temperatures return after a mild spell – however spawn under the surface of the water would likely survive if freezing does not persist in the long term.

You can help by submitting your sightings of frogspawn and any other amphibians and reptiles with our Dragon Finder App (https://www.froglife.org/dragonfinder/app/) – these records help us learn more about how our changing environment affects our species.

Common frog breed the earliest of our native amphibian species – with early sightings of frogspawn possible in January!

What animals are up to this month…

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What animals are up to this month… March 2019 Edition

Sightings of frogspawn will become more common in March across the UK, as rafts of spawn numbering up to 2000 eggs will be laid. These will develop over the coming weeks (dependent on local weather conditions) to hatch into tadpoles.

Avoid moving frogspawn as it can have adverse effects. You may inadvertently be transporting amphibian diseases to a new pond or be moving invasive, non-native plants that could take over (see our Just Add Water booklet for more info). There is also a chance that moving spawn to a pond already containing frogspawn could be too much, with the pond unable to support a larger population. Conversely, there may be a reason if a pond has no frogspawn – the pond may be unsuitable or have lots of frogspawn predators.

Great crested newts will be leaving their winter homes and starting to head back to ponds in March. They prefer ponds with no fish and, thus, ponds which dry out every few years can be favoured as these are very unlikely to support fish populations. Palmate newts and smooth newts will likely have emerged a little earlier and may be mating by March. This involves a courtship ‘dance’ by a male newt.  Following this, female newts lay eggs which are wrapped individually in the leaves of pond plants. Either species of newt may lay up to 300 eggs in a single season.

If you need any further advice on our species, please visit our FAQ’s web page. If you still can’t find the answer that you’re looking for, email info@froglife.org

This is the time to check your local pond to see some frogspawn!