Today's marsh frogs

[yellowhammer]

The marsh frogs Pelophylax ridibundus have emerged fully from hibernation now;





Here you can see the fold of skin behind the ear and the lack of a dark 'mask' that is a major ID feature for marsh frogs when compared with common frogs;



A typical view For some reason I really like this photo;



And a smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris to finish things off;



All from north Kent.

[Wild-Woman]

Wow! They're great pictures YH! In the marshes I assume? Are they making that great laughing sound yet?
Jules

[yellowhammer]

Yup Jules, all around the fort (except for the newt which is from my garden ). They are calling but in quite a desultory fashion. i think another week of nice weather will see 'em all nice and green and going like the clappers

Had a bit of a look for grassies today with no joy. But it won't be long, after all the buffet is open

[badgerwatcher]

Fabulous, Ian. Are they the same sort of size as our usual frogs?

[yellowhammer]

The adults are noticeably bigger - snout-vent length is about 6-7 inches in old money. Very different behaviour too. The marshies live in canals & ditches around here, basking high up on the banks. As they're so well camouflaged often the first you see of them is a loud Plop! as they launch into the water. I think they're ace

[badgerwatcher]

I've never managed to see one, just heard them really loud all round me! Very frustrating. I'll keep looking!

[Barbara]

Great images of the marsh frogs and the newt Ian, looks like you had a great day.

Barbara

[yellowhammer]

70+ frogs, water voles, comma & peacock butterflies, a hare and loads of skylarks & meadow pipits too - I've definitely had worse days

[Landbridge]

Very interested in your observations.
I've been requesting such info for over a year on the RAUK (reptiles and amphibians UK) website. There are a good 50+ plus posts posts on marsh frogs there (including some from me (chas) with two requesting the sort of information you have given on this page). This includes my observations-in which I am not alone-that the appearance and increase in the numbers of marsh frogs on the north Kent marshes (I live in Beckenham, Kent) has increased in the numbers of other predator fauna, including grass snakes and some bird species, because of the increasing amount of available food (i.e. marsh frogs in all sizes and their tadpoles).
While I was involved in waterfrog genetics and ecology research, I used to keep other water frogs (pool frogs and edible frogs) outside in largish natural enclosures. From observation there it was clear that, of the water frogs, the edible frogs emerged from hibernation first, followed by pool frogs . The earliest emergers of all frogs were, of course the common frogs - by many weeks. In fact the emergence of the water frogs occurred after the brown frogs had spawned and dispersed. I have long suspected that marsh frogs would be the earliest of the water frogs to emerge. Your observations back that up nicely. This year has been mild enough to cause early emergence in a lot of amphibians and I suspect that could be the case with the marsh frog. Do you have any records for past years?
You mentioned in your post that the marsh frogs in north Kent were calling half-heartedly. This sounds like their normal territorial call. Later when things warm up they will start building up to the loud crescendos of their mating calls. I would be interested in any records you could give (past or present) of the earliest you've heard this kind of calling. Finally any record which prove breeding i.e. pairs of frogs in amplexus all the finding of spawn, would also be very valuable.

I would be EXTREMELY grateful, for research purposes, for any marsh or edible frog records for the earliest time, in any year, that anyone has noticed a) calling, or, b) spawning (or just the finding of eggs). Please state locality.

Replies can be posted here (or sent by "private message") or on the RAUK Forum on marsh frogs.

[yellowhammer]

Thanks for the reply Landbridge. The green frogs were first seen at this site (by me anyway) about twenty years ago and the population has been stable now for about ten years. I've been away for the last five years and can't find my old records as everything I own is still in boxes but here's what I have for this year so far.

The earliest green frogs were out of hibernation at this site on the 22nd of February, records were at 9.30 in light rain, air temp. about 8 deg. C. Ten subadults were seen, all with a SVL of about 45 - 55 mm. All were basking (if you can bask in rain) on ditch banks.

Adults and last years young were not seen until the 10th of March when the number of individuals was up to 35. It was warm enough for the adults to be in the water and basking on floating debris - the smaller frogs were still only on the banks.

Interestingly, the prime reason for choice of basking site seemed to be cover rather than access to sun or protection from wind.

Almost all the individuals I have caught have been 'Marsh' frogs although a couple have shown features of 'Edible' frogs, ie hind leg not extending past snout, larger metatarsal tubercule. I think this is just normal population variation (or as normal as you can get with green frogs) rather than a separate population of Edibles. Would you have any thoughts on this?

As to predators, grass snakes have always been common on this site and population size doesn't seem to have changed for 20 years aside from normal annual fluctuation. The number of grey herons has increased slightly, and I have seen little egrets catching frogs for the first time this year although they are increasing nationwide regardless, I believe. Numbers of water beetles (Dyticus and Hydrophilus) have stayed at high levels, as have Odonata. Crested newt and water vole numbers are down slightly although I don't think that is due to the increase in the number of frogs which has stayed stable for many years now. Hope this is of some interest, let me know if I can do anything else.