Ice on Ponds

[King Edward]

Since this is a topic that gets a lot of interest in the winter, how about an unofficial survey of the amount of ice everyone here gets on their pond (or ponds) this winter. Perhaps people could post details of:

Their location
Length of time their pond is iced over.
Maximum thickness of the ice
Area & depth of pond
Whether it's sheltered by trees or not (% of the pond area)
Whether there's a pump/fountain/air stone etc. running
The amount of sludge/leaves in the bottom
And any animals alive/dead seen after it thaws

[GCN lova]

thats a great idea KE and ill definitely do that. the weather here was frosty a few days ago but now its mild although finally we're getting rain so i don't think i'll get ice soon.

[robje29]

I agree to a really good idea, seeing peoples results should be very interesting imo
Rob

[jaelen]

I agree- I'm willing to keep tabs on our pond, too.

[Billabong Karen]

As soon as we get ice, I'll let you know!

[Botticelliwoman]

Dreading a repeat of last year with dead frogs. Going to make sure that I clear out the leaves properly this year, clear the snow off, and melt the ice. Last year though we got about 2' of snow in one day....I couldn't even see where the pond was!
Will certainly keep tabs this winter.
Aitch

[Bob_at_Fant]

Yes, I think this is a great idea and it makes sense to have this sort of information available to share, BBC Weather has a minimum nighttime temp of 2 deg c for this week for my postcode but I'm told snow is moving south..

Bob

[Dogghound]

Ive got ice on both of the ponds this morning, however it is only a thin sheet. I will be happy to add details to this when I get a good freeze.

[Billabong Karen]

Originally Posted by Botticelliwoman

Dreading a repeat of last year with dead frogs. Going to make sure that I clear out the leaves properly this year, clear the snow off, and melt the ice. Last year though we got about 2' of snow in one day....I couldn't even see where the pond was!
Will certainly keep tabs this winter.
Aitch

I will be very interested to hear about other people's experiences with this. I really dont think it is necessary to try to keep snow and ice off a pond - perhaps it is only when there is a really hard winter which keeps the pond frozen for several weeks that there is a problem for frogs. I mean, this is nature, in winter ponds freeze up... If that were going to kill frogs every time it happens, we wouldnt have any left, right? And what about countries with colder winters than ours, their amphibian populations still manage...

Maybe in your case it really was due to a build up of toxins due to the leaves rotting under the ice. But cleaning out the pond on an annual basis cannot be good for the natural infrastructure either.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Billabong Karen

If that were going to kill frogs every time it happens, we wouldnt have any left, right? And what about countries with colder winters than ours, their amphibian populations still manage...

What happens with common frogs (and to an extent some other amphibians) is the females hibernate outside of the water, often quite far away from it. Females rarely hibernate within a pond. It is all reflective of the breeding season where males get to the pond first to establish a small patch in which they can defend against other males and get the females. The males which get there first can get the best areas. So some males offset the risk of dying in a frozen pond and decide to stay so they are already in the pond for the breeding season and get to select the best areas for mating and have the best chance of getting a female. The rest of the males hibernate on land and don't take this risk instead opting for survival over breeding. What you then see is in consecutive cold winters the aquatic male population drops and the terrestrial increases so that most males survive the winter. This works the opposite in warm winters when most males decide to take this risk. The influence being th previous winterso occassionally (with out climate) they get caught out) So what you are likely to find is that a large percentage of the male population will overwinter on land after the last couple of cold winters thus ensuring the survival of the species.

This is also reflective of latitude with more males hibernating on land in colder climates like northern Scotland in comparison to warmer ones like south England. So in somewhere like Sweden hardly any of the male population hibernates in the water, in spain most if not all will.

Sorry to take it off thread just thought this may be relevant overall.