I have to admit to a bit of ‘eco-meddling’. It happened several years ago and concerned a frogspawn-filled, tractor tyre rut on the Welsh coast near Portmeirion. The water the puddle contained was only a few inches deep and drying out rapidly. I decided to fill a plastic bag with spawn and water, take it back to where we were staying, transfer it to a more robust vessel, then transport it back to the small pond in the garden of our house.
The eggs were duly transferred and floated lumpily with the spawn already in my pond. In a short time tadpoles emerged from both sources but, to me, they were noticeably different. Small and black on the one hand, bigger and greener on the other. It could simply be that I was noticing different rates of development but I’ve always assumed that the more robust specimens came from the Welsh coast – hardiness there, it seemed to me, was a prerequisite for survival. And these tadpoles had certainly survived.
I hope I’m not misleading myself by saying that I’ve noticed this size difference in the years since the ‘rescue’. I’ve also noticed that some of the young don’t always mature in the current year but overwinter before disappearing.
The pond this spring was unusually green but it didn’t deter returning frogs. The number in the water seemed up on past years. I don’t know whether this was due to less predation by cats, foxes, etc., or because more tadpoles were successfully making their way through the transformation process. Greater numbers out mean greater numbers back.
The current tadpole batch is doing well......… and the water is clearing, slowly.
Les Roberts
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