Breeding times

[sarah]

ok, i would like to go to my local lake this year and film the frogs spawning, i went once before about 2 years ago and it was a spectacular sight! the only thing is last time i went i wasn't expecting it, i was walking the dog.

Now the hard part is timing, as it's a drive to get there i don't want to be going every week to check, now what i would like to know is how can i predict the right timing, is there any certain weather, temp or conditions i should be looking out for? it all happens over a matter of days and is easily missed as i found out last year.

I live in Warwickshire, England. Thats in the midlands. The frogs in my pond spawn at a different time, probably because the pond warms up quicker than a lake so i'm guessing the ones in the pond spawn earlier than the ones at the lake

(Message edited by sezzy5889 on March 09, 2006)

 

[kyle]

Usually, a pretty fool proof trigger for frog spawning is the first heavy downfall of spring/warm rain. Watch for weather reports in the area, and go down as soon as there is the possibility of a heavy rain. Good luck, and let us know if you run into them this year!

 

[andy]

Hi Sarah, i live in the Midlands too, Rana Temporia have started to arrive over the last few days....shouldn't be too long before they spawn

 

[pollywog]

Sarah I'm not too far from Warwickshire and I've just been out to my pond and found the first clutch of the year:

There were 3 pairs of R.temporaria in amplexus, a few male L.vulgaris and some over wintered L.vulgaris larvae.

 

[sarah]

yes i too have found frogspawn in the pond now, but my theory is that a pond being smaller warms up quicker than a lake on a mild day so they will lay sooner, i heard on the weather forecast that it is going to get pretty mild over the next couple of weeks, so i may take a couple of trips down there