frog advice please

[~T~]

Originally Posted by shagbat

Yes, sorry Put,
I digressed a lot.
Was just trying to share my limited experience.
As an aside, I am seriously thinking of removing the goldfish (and pump) from my 2.4x1.8m pond and going more natural. Would keep some stickies though!
Otherwise, I get bitten to b-----y on summers evenings!
My big problem, is that I still need cat/heron protection, for the frogs, it just spoils the whole thing. I know that by losing the goldfish, that I will get more froglets.
Incidently, and you may be able to help, We have never had the pleasure of seeing a newt, any idea why please? ( I am aware that newts are predators of tads. and have seen one eating spawn.)
The local (man made) dyke, 300m away, is full of them.
I have tried to create habitats for them, logs, brick piles etc.
No, I wont introduce them, I will wait till they arrive.

Thanks and Regards

s

It may be the fact there are fish in your pond. Frogs and toads still tend to spawn with the presence of fish but news may be more picky.

[Putorius]

Originally Posted by shagbat

We have never had the pleasure of seeing a newt, any idea why please? ( I am aware that newts are predators of tads. and have seen one eating spawn.)
The local (man made) dyke, 300m away, is full of them.
I have tried to create habitats for them, logs, brick piles etc.
No, I wont introduce them, I will wait till they arrive.

T may well be right, newts, particularly the great crested, tend to avoid small ponds that are occupied by fish. It can be a different matter in larger pond networks with heavily vegetated edges. The small pond scenario has limitations so far as the diversity of life that it will support. The phrase "big fish in a small pond" speaks for itself!

On the other side of the coin, small garden ponds rarely manage to support substantive colonies of frogs and newts for the very same reason. Typically, when a garden pond is created, being more mobile than newts, the frogs arrive fairly soon. Often for the first few seasons the pond can become literally alive with frogs of varying sizes, due to the high metamorphosis rate due to the lack of established predators. As invertebrate predator numbers increase, some form of balance is achieved. Newts often arrive within a season or two, and if the conditions suit them, they will stay.

In a small pond scenario, within three seasons there can be hundreds of individuals within the newt colony, feeding not only on an aquatic invertebrate diet but easily mopping up the readily available protein source of frog tadpoles. It will come as no suprise therefore that the small pond scenario nearly always dictates that newt numbers reaching an optimum level coincides with the decline of frog numbers at the same pond due to the high numbers of predatory newts in so small an area. As a result, very few tadpoles metamorphose into frogs.

[shagbat]

Thanks chaps,
That was all I could think of.
Incidently, a neighbours cat caught a 'newt' a few years ago.
It was a lizard, very rare around here.

Last year, I saw more spawn in my ponds than I did on my
regular forays by water.
This year, I found a massive spawning, in my local dyke.
I arrived at the same time as a heron and spoiled his easy dinner.
Will try to get some pics up soon.

Regards,

s

[wales1000]

Hi everyone i have got round to building a small wildlife pond, not exactly great, but i used most of materials i already had as i am skint - there is a photo in the images section and would be grateful for any bad or good pointers! Its the yellow pond, with gnomes and pots etc

many thanks. Natasha