froggy
Site Contributor
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2002
- Messages
- 1,779
- Reaction score
- 28
- Points
- 48
- Age
- 35
- Location
- Manchester, England
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Display Name
- Chris Michaels
My garden has two ponds, and a small population of common frogs (Rana temporaria) that breed in them each year. However, neighbourhood cats and magpies kill a lot of adults each year, and the adult population is slowly reducing. To add to that, there were a couple of years when the pond went bad and no spawn survived. For the last couple of years (until I had time to clean out the big pond, whihc is frankly terrible) and dig a new smaller one, i have been raising tadpoles in tubs, then releasing some back into the pond once they've hatched (they seem to do well once they have become free-swimming) and kept others in tubs until metamorphosis. I think this has helped to buoy up the population by increasing recruitment, but I want to try to increase the carrying capacity of my garden, as a large area of neglected land is soon to 'developed'. Other than building log and rock piles for hiding/hibernation sites, does anyone have any particularly useful tips for increasing the frog-friendliness of a medium sized garden (obviously this would help newts too), particularly in increasing survival of juveniles?
I know its a bit vagues, but really anything from bedding plants to not-too-obtrusive landscape modifications would be helpful.
Thanks
Chris
I know its a bit vagues, but really anything from bedding plants to not-too-obtrusive landscape modifications would be helpful.
Thanks
Chris