I become a boar …

Frogspawn 2021

Frogs last bred in our George’s Pond in 2021 - and successfully too as the photo of spawn shows. And so does this photo of expectant males in the mood for love - eyes staring unblinkingly back at me on a warm March evening in that year..After that success there has been no successful spawning of frogs since.

Expectant males

We scratched our heads.

Could predators be the problem? My trail cameras picked up no major culprit.

Possibly a disease? There was no evidence of diseased animals.

Frogs, it was said, sometimes have fallow breeding years. Perhaps this was the reason..

We could find no explanation in that year or in the spring that followed when, once again, there was no spawning. We were getting concerned.

During this time, friends with garden ponds reported bumper years while no successful spawning took place here.

Could the difference be that pond vegetation had grown and filled ‘the beach’ where the frogs had previously gathered? Garden ponds often don’t have the same issues of encroaching vegetation. So, perhaps frogs need an open area of pond edge unlike their toad cousins who were frequently coupling ‘in amplexus’ in all of the vegetated areas around the pond. My 2021 photos certainly seem to support this as the frogs and their spawn were in open, shallow water.

Toads in amplexus 2024

Before humans despoiled natural processes, ponds such as George’s Pond would have been visited by large herbivores like deer, cattle or boar. They would have trampled the pond edge and grazed on encroaching vegetation that continued to grow in winter when other sources of food may have been exhausted. In doing so, they would have prevented ponds becoming engulfed by a succession of first low-growing water plants until eventually sallows and other water-loving trees would have grown and the pond would have become a muddy hollow..

‘Beach’ cleared ready for spring..

There was nothing for it but for me to become a boar - or other such large herbivore. Armed with my brushcutter scythe I entered the pond to near-booter depth and cut away vegetation to create an open area. Other open areas will be created for frogs before spring whilst still leaving vegetation for amorous toads.

I will have to wait until spring to see whether the mystery has been solved.