Mystery amphibians in Oxfordshire

[evilpete]

We found this lovely couple whilst trying to photograph the eclipse near Oxford last Saturday night. Our pictures of the eclipse were awful, but we almost tripped over these two and their picture came out nicely.

I've never seen anything quite like them before - my best guess from looking around the net is that they're Marsh Frogs. They were quite large, and had coloured patchs on their cheeks. The female at least had the slightly warty skin I'd normally associate with a toad, but the male looked smoother and had the distinct markings you can see in the photo. Neither have conspicuous poison glands on their necks, so that sort of supports my guess of frog rather than toad.

Can anyone here do better?

[yellowhammer]

Welcome to WAB evilpete (good name).

What you've got are common frogs Rana temporia. The male on top shows the black patch behind the eye that is typical of this species. The warty skin on the female is the growth of 'pearly granules' that the laydeez show in the mating season. I'm not sure what they're for, but I like to think it's grip. If you see a marsh frog, you'll know.

Lovely picture by the way.

[evilpete]

Really?

I've seen common frogs hundreds of times, but never with markings anything like this.

Mind you, gambling on the most common frog type would have been a safe bet. Glancing down the other threads it looks like you get this a lot

[yellowhammer]

Really!

Common frogs are massively variable in colour & pattern - they can be green, brown, yellow, brick red, black(ish) or any combination of the above, even pink individuals have been found. Same with patterning, spots, bands, marbling or sometimes nothing at all.

The mask behind the eye is a dead give away but, as with your female, not 100% - at least 90% though. They often have a dark ^ mark between the shoulders too.

Marsh frogs are big, green, noisy (in season) and would never sit still long enough for you to take that picture! Here's a 'typical' looking marsh that I've googled, the differences are clear;

Google Image Result for http://www.hlasek.com/foto/rana_ridibunda_8275.jpg

Pointier snout, longer legs, no mask, green colour. And totally different behaviour & habitat.

Sorry if you're disappointed, but that's how it is!

[evilpete]

I'm not disappointed at all. They were fine frogs and I'm happy to have it cleared up.

I spent a long time chasing frogs as a kid and figured I knew common frogs and toads on sight, but I guess there's room for me to learn a little more. I'll keep my eyes open and see what else I can find.

The vast majority of the common frogs I've seen look much more like this fellow:

[aeshna5]

Marsh Frogs don't breed until our natives are finished with breeding- they require the water temperature to be c18C before they spawn-usually May or June. The adults tend to appear in April looking brown, but become greener as they sunbathe, which they love doing.

They make the most wonderful cacophany which carries some distance!

Nice photo of Common Frogs.

[yellowhammer]

I've been seeing marsh frogs out since the 22nd of February this year which is incredibly early - or is it simply because I've not bothered looking this early in the year before?! All have been subadults so far, but there are a fair few around, with the most half-hearted calling I've heard.

This question does come up regularly (along with 'where can I find adders?') so I may do a 'tell the difference' report for the R&A pages when I get some better photos.

If you find anything else of interest evilpete stick some pics up.