Decline in frogs due to cold weather?

[Sand01]

Hi, I have a wildlife pond in our garden that is normally heaving with frogs and spawn. Last year I counted up to 180 frogs and must have had about 50- 60dollops of spawn. Last week the frogs arrived - all the males (about 80). We all waited very patiently for the females to show but no luck. As my son said "they have all been stood up"

I am based in Edinburgh and the temp. over winter was obviously very low for a long time. Has it had an effect? Numbers of frogs in my pond well down.

This morning I have 1 sad looking load of spawn but I think most of the frogs have given up and left the pond.

How are other ponds in Scotland doing - especially on the East coast?

Will my frogs come back do you think?

Thanks - Sandra

[froggy]

Hi, Do not worry, your frogs will not have left your pond. When the weather is cold the frogs remain under the water, and when it warms up again, they all appear again. I live near London and even though my pond was frozen solid for three weeks i had no dead frogs. Most of my frogs started to arrive three weeks ago and on the warm days there were around eighty frogs on the surface of the pond, but as soon as the temperature dropped they vanished, but i noticed bubbles rising from under the water and thats where they were.

[Putorius]

Hi,

What has the weather been like with you recently?

There are a few possabilities with regard to your situation;

If the weather has been mild in recent years in your area, the female frogs may have been spending the winter in slightly shallower terrestrial hibernacula. In the event of a sudden harsh winter, such behaviour may well mean that the frogs have not secured a spot below the frost line. Perhaps more numbers than usual have not survived hibernation.

What is more likely however, is that the wetter milder weather is yet to arrive properly in your district. In which case I would say that your frogs will return when the weather suits. Male frogs are nearly always earlier to rise than the females, and there is still plenty of time.

When I was a small child, (living then in the South of England) frogs would not arrive to breed at the spawning sites local to me until mid March. Now it all happens over a much more protracted period and often begins considerably earlier in the year. Being further North, I would say that you still have time for the weather to change and for the frogs to return. I would be interested to know what happens.

[toadpole]

dont give up my frogs spawned on march 31st last year well over 3 weeks from when they first were in amplexus i kept thinking they had given up and had all gone from the pond .but as froggy said you see the tell tale bubbles and the odd little splosh when you startle them ...try going out at night with a torch you may be surprised what you can see Marion

[~T~]

We have had extremely cold winters 2 years in a row up here in the North. Just it now the weather seems to get milder for a few days then back to freezing. I would say I've seen the same thing as the OP is seeing. Problem for the little wild pond near me is that it is targeted by herons regularly and probably a mink too (well I've seen it once). I fear the longer they wait to breed the less chance they have of actually surviving