Ponds and frogs galore

[Hartofpixie]

We recently moved to an older property that has a largish pond - I've just looked out of the window and there are about a gazillion frogs and loads of frogspawn. Is this normal? Where will they go? I have visions of frogs appearing in my house. There were fish in the pond, but they haven't appeared recently (pond is about 1m deep) - and at least one has met its maker via a heron. Any top tips on how to manage ponds for a complete novice?!

Just leave it be; if you don't know what you are doing you could wipe out all those lovely slug eaters. Frogs will spawn in ponds [that's what they do].

If you want to start managing your pond, do some research before you do anything. Don't go and clear it out or you could lose your whole ecosystem.

For the record, you either have fish ponds or wildlife ponds. Easiest is a wildlife one, which just needs a little work when the weeds take over. It sounds like your fish have been eaten which is what happens in a wildlife pond. Just clear the leaves out in the autumn and leave them all to it. If you do clear anything out ever, leave it in a mound at the side of the pond for at least 24-48 hours for any critters to climb back into the pond.

Ooh I love ponds :) any possibility of a photo?

Oooh, you lucky thing! Frogs are in a nose-dive like decline, so it's fantastic to hear that you've got tons of them! And don't worry - frogs are unlikely to appear in your house in any kind of numbers! They like cool, damp, dark, wet places - so the opposite to most human houses

A few people over the last month have told me their frogs are spawning already: one of my friends had frogspawn in early January! It seems to be early this year, maybe because of the mild winter. Don't worry about there being loads of spawn - nature is harsh and there is fierce competition every spring for survival. Lots of things eat tadpoles. There will not be a billion frogs come June!

Wildlife ponds look after themselves. You might need to remove weed or algae if they look like they are getting out of control and smothering the entire surface but you really, really want quite a bit of both there so it's a question of taking a little, not wholesale clearance. Definitely get rid of leaves in the autumn, too, as Doreen said.

I LOVE frogs, you're so lucky to have them! Are they noisy at the moment! I didn't know that they were spawning already, how exciting! I may go off on a frogspawn hunt soon. Not to move it, as you shouldn't do that, but just to see it.

As Doreen said, they're amazing for eating slugs, so please please don't use slug pellets (the metaldehyde ones), as they kill frogs.

Ooh lots of reassuring messages - great. It's getting a bit gloomy now but I will take some pics tomorrow for you to see. It probably is a bit overgrown / algaeish but I've been nervous about tinkering too much and upsetting things.

I am waiting for my pond to be dug. We used to have gazillions of frogs but the bastard neighbours filled in their pond. The pond down the field always has frogspawn, and then promptly dries up. I intend to move some to my pond when it is ready.

Yes, the frogs sometimes sit at the back door and have been known to hop inside.

I love frogs.

How exciting

Regarding a wildlife pond, could I just dig a hole in the garden, insert plastic pond thingy and add water? What sort of plants would I add?

OP are you anywhere near Edinburgh, perchance? I want to encourage frogs into my garden so want to find some frogspawn.

There are lots of websites.

Here are a couple of froggy pics for those interested. Will get on and do some research so I can keep it flourishing.

My pond froze over a couple of times last week so i am glad ours haven't spawned yet. We usually have one warm day in March when all the frogs come in the pond and have sex (you can hear them calling to each other) then the spawn appears after a few days! Love frogs. We also have newts but sadly no toads.
(We also have a couple of fish because I hadn't realised you were supposed to choose.They all seem to get along quite well.)

Frogs only come in the house here when a cat brings one in. They like to lurk quietly then HOP when they have carefully calculated it will make everybody jump :)

Oh how lucky you are. We used to have frogs in our garden although we didn't have a pond. This is a true story. We had a big problem with snails so I put out a container of beer (they are attracted to that and they go in and drown).

Well, one of our frogs obviously also fancied the beer and I found it "dead". I was so upset and couldn't go near it to dispose of the body.

When DH came home from work we went out to the garden together and there was Mr Froggy alive again. He'd been drunk!

Wow pixie you really do have loads of frogs!

I checked in my froggy pond today. Well, it's not mine but it's nearby. Nothing yet, so you are officially winning!

Are you quite far south?

lots of froggy action in my pond today (lancs)

We have a pond. When we moved we knew the pond at our old house would be filled in so we carefully emptied it to get our fish out and also took about 8 frogs and one very large toad. There has already been some frog shenanigans happening, the pair balanced carefully on the hose pipe :o

Last year we removed lots of spawn into a relatively shallow container and watched the tads change into frogs until they had all hopped away. We have a wood stack which they love (lots of slugs) and we make sure to have a wildlife section in the garden (huge shallow tray about 6 inches deep with water plants in) so they aren't disturbed by our fish.

If there are still fish in the pond then put a net over it but a)leave a space for frogs to get in and out and b) if it's a deep bit of the pond then a large stone in the water acts as a stepping stone.

I hope we continue to get dragonflies at this house, I spent many a happy hour watching them buzz over the water.