Frogs (Rana temporaria) – we have plenty of them in the Charlton Down Nature Area but we don’t often see them unless it is a wet spring night time or the breeding season. A lot of frogs used to frequent our old pond no matter what state it was in. When the pond was rebuilt in February this year, all the creatures that could be rescued from the old pond were set aside in holding tanks when it was drained, and then placed back in the water once the new pond was completed. There was plenty of frog spawn as well as adult frogs, and since February it has been delightful to watch the spawn gradually transform to thousands of tadpoles. The last week in May saw the first tiny froglets crawling through the grass on the edge of the pond by the shallow pebble beach area.
Useful Books and Links
Collins Pocket Guide to Freshwater Life – Britain and Northern Europe, Malcolm Greenhaigh and Denys Ovenden, Collins, 2007, ISBN-978-0-00 -717777-6.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/amphibians/common-frog
https://www.arc-trust.org/news/hop-to-it-caring-for-the-common-frog
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Charlton Down Nature Area 
Oh my goodness–I’ve never seen so many! They’re mesmerizing!
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Thank you, Aud. There must be many thousands of tadpoles in the pond but of course many will not survive to frog-hood. These little creatures provide a good food resource for other animals such as the diving beetle larvae, and they also eat eat other when they transition from the plant eating phase to the carnivorous one.
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I didn’t know the young competed so fiercely! Do you ever get herons? I imagine that pond would be a feast.
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A heron used to visit the old pond before it dried up. I hope they will be back again once this new pond is well established.
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