Further to the post "Why no frogs?"
When I moved into my present home about nine years ago there was a "pond " in the garden...It's rectangular,about 4 feet by 6 feet,and 30 inches deep...(I was brought up on the old feet and inches.)
Someone had sunk a plastic tank in the lawn and planted a few shrubs and miniature conifers around it and put a couple of rocks on the edges.
I didn't really like it...but I brought a few rocks and lumps of slate back from one of my then many visits to North West Wales...on several occasions..I rigged up "ramps" to make it easier for frogs to get in and out of the pond.
I used the rocks to breakup the artificial outline of my rectangular pond,and it started to look half decent..I planted more shrubs around the pond...these also helped hide the artificial shape.
I set some water plants in the slime that was a few inches deep on the bottom...they thrived.
One morning in the first Spring I lived here I looked out of the bedroom window,and saw about nine or ten bow waves with a "shape" at the front going round and round the pond.
When I went down to investigate,each wave was caused by a pair of frogs mating as they swam about.
I was quite thrilled by this...and then the pond was absolutely full af spawn...then full of tadpoles,who I watched grow into baby frogs...it was beautiful to think I was helping them.
This repeated itself for a few years...then there were less frogs...then I started fishing out dead bodies...All of them had pink or red legs...For a few years I had no frogs...Last year I saw one lonely one...I often saw him sitting alone...and I don't know if he survived against the neighbourhood cats.
I rang a frog information centre (don't remember the name),and they told me how frogs had been very badly hit by "Red Leg Disease"..A fatal illness.
I hope the frog population can recover from this illness...my pond is still full of all sorts of other wildlife...bugs of various kinds swimming around...lots of snails that I introduced...they're thriving too...and on Summer evenings,I'm often treated to three or four Dragonflies swooping about above the pond..catching the insects that gather above it. Their flying displays are beautiful.The Lavender bushes that I planted nearby have grown huge...they attract lots of butterflies and bees...and moths at night.
There are lots of spiders that live on the edges of the pond...I once watched one of them walk across the surface of the water and catch a small fly,then walk back to the edge.
The place I rang told me to NEVER take frog spawn to other ponds...any disease will be spread...they also said that frogs and other amphibians seem to be suffering from the increase of UV radiation that we are receiving now.
When I was clearing out the rubbish behind my garage I moved a sheet of roofing felt,and there were several frogs underneath it hibernating..I replaced the sheet a gently as I could,and left the rubbish there until "my" frogs were active in the Summer....I hope they eventually come back.
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