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Pond life

J

janice

Wise Old Thumper
We have had a pond in our garden for many years now. We are normally over run by newts. A few of these are now living the other side of the river with Gisela.

When we moved in we had about 8 adult toads however for the past 6 years we have had no spawn or if we do get spawn it never developes into tadpoles.

This year is different
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Frogs live near or in water. they have two bulging eyes, strong, long, webbed hind feet that are adapted for leaping and swimming, smooth or slimy skin (generally, frogs tend to like moister environments), Frogs tend to lay eggs in clusters. Frogs from this family can be found on every continent except Antarctica. They are referred to as the "true frogs" because of their generalized body form and life history: the so-called generic frog.
Members of this family include the bullfrog, common frog, green frog, leopard frog, marsh frog, pickerel frog, and wood frog

Toads live on land, breed in water only, They have stubby bodies with short hind legs (for walking instead of hopping), they are warty and dry skin (usually ), The chest cartilage of toads is different also.Toads tend to lay eggs in long chains. True Toads can be found worldwide except in Australasia, polar regions, Madagascar, and Polynesia, though Bufo marinus has been artificially introduced into Australia and some South Pacific islands.
Besides Bufo, the family includes 25 genera, all of which, like the frogs, are anura!
 
jrn1310 said:
Frogs live near or in water. they have two bulging eyes, strong, long, webbed hind feet that are adapted for leaping and swimming, smooth or slimy skin (generally, frogs tend to like moister environments), Frogs tend to lay eggs in clusters. Frogs from this family can be found on every continent except Antarctica. They are referred to as the "true frogs" because of their generalized body form and life history: the so-called generic frog.
Members of this family include the bullfrog, common frog, green frog, leopard frog, marsh frog, pickerel frog, and wood frog

Toads live on land, breed in water only, They have stubby bodies with short hind legs (for walking instead of hopping), they are warty and dry skin (usually ), The chest cartilage of toads is different also.Toads tend to lay eggs in long chains. True Toads can be found worldwide except in Australasia, polar regions, Madagascar, and Polynesia, though Bufo marinus has been artificially introduced into Australia and some South Pacific islands.
Besides Bufo, the family includes 25 genera, all of which, like the frogs, are anura!
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according to david attenborough the difference is purely fictional - there is not much of a biological difference between 'frogs' and 'toads' (obviously the different species of them are different) and it's one of those things that has developed over the years for no apparent reason. I was always taught that frogs were smooth-skinned and wet, living primarily in water whereas toads were rough- or bumpy-skinned and dry, living primarily on land.
 
vengeful.veggie said:
Awww, they're so cute!!
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I always wanted a garden with a pond in it, when we moved to this house 14 years ago it had a pond almost immediatly outside the back door. My youngest who was just under 1 year old at the time used to ride his sit and ride toys near the back door and make his escape towards the pond. A year after moving in I moved it, at a later date I removed it and redug the pond out. We have always had a newts and both frogs and toads in it. We have now added some small fish to keep the mossie population at bay.

It is so fascinating just to sit and watch them move about. We have two types of newts, the crested ones are apparently rare and a protected species. There are lots of ponds near us who now have them in as each year we tend to give away another few pairs to someone new as my pond seems to be over loaded with them.

If we moved I would definately have another pond.
 
Can you post a pic of the whole pond? I'd love to have a pond, especially seeing we tend to have toads in our gardens around here.
 
toads tend to have stumpier back legs - they crawl rather than hop... that's my definition anyway :lol:

:love: newties!!! :love: you're so lucky :D
 
Janice has a lovely pond. There's so much going on in there. I have always wanted a pond, too, and last year we asked our landlord whether we could build one. It has "enriched" our garden so much, and I agree, there is nothing more relaxing than sitting by the pond and watching the wildlife.

The newts have not returned so far.:( Maybe they are just hiding, as our pond is quite deep. The duckweed has had a party while we were away. I'll have to do some "fishing". I have not checked our tadpoles, yet, but they didn't grow all that well this year. We have a mix of toad and frog tadpoles. I always recognize toads by their eyes. They are a bit orange and have a different shape to the frogs' ones. Quite often you only see their nose and eyes sticking out of the water.

Our water lily is doing much better than last year. I hope we'll get some flowers this time. Have your fish had any more babies this spring?
 
Lovely pics. Love the tadpoles :love: I've always liked the idea of a pond

Can I ask you experts -

Is there any good/bad location for the bond ie- direct sunlight?
Any minimum size for fish?
I'd like some water lillies (is that what they are called?) do they grow in any pond?

So.. does standing water of the pond allow mozzies etc to breed? and does having fish in a pond prevent this?

Sorry for the hijack :oops:
 
Great crested newts are indeed a protected species. It is illegal to kill, injure, disturb or sell them. Their habitat is also protected. My partner and I are both Natural England great crested newt licence holders and spend many evenings and early mornings b****ring about surveying for them!!

Be careful about the fish you introduce as fish eat newt eggs! When we scope a pond for newts, presence of fish usually means we won't find much when we survey.

Edit: Also, if they want to build anything within about 500m of your pond, make sure you tell the planning department at the council!!
 
If you want fish, I would get a pond that is at least 2 ft deep. It is best not to have it too close to trees, otherwise you'll get too many leaves falling into it. You will have to protect it with a net, when you are not in the garden, because herons come into even the smallest garden and try to eat the fish and frogs.
Our pond is in a very sunny position, but I have plants around it, and in the summer the water lily also provides shade and hiding places for the fish. In spring the pond goes through a very green stage, with lots of algae, but normally the little creatures in the water clean it all up, or you can also buy pond treatment chemicals that are harmless to all wildlife. We don't have a pump or filter in our pond, but a lot of underwater oxgenating plants, snails, mussles and a lot of plants around the edge of the pond, too. You should wait a few months after making a pond, before you introduce fish, so that the water can get into a balance.
 
Bubby said:
Great crested newts are indeed a protected species. It is illegal to kill, injure, disturb or sell them. Their habitat is also protected. My partner and I are both Natural England great crested newt licence holders and spend many evenings and early mornings b****ring about surveying for them!!

Be careful about the fish you introduce as fish eat newt eggs! When we scope a pond for newts, presence of fish usually means we won't find much when we survey.

Edit: Also, if they want to build anything within about 500m of your pond, make sure you tell the planning department at the council!!
Click to expand...

I think our newts from Janice were all smooth newts. The males have a crest during mating season, I think. They had newtlets in our pond, despite our fish, and Janice has lots of newts despite having fish in her pond, too. So they seem to find a way to save some of their eggs from being eaten. Maybe it would be a good idea to divide the pond by an underwater net or something, that lets water through, but not the fish. Then the part without the fish could be planted up with newt friendly plants, where they can attach their eggs to.

What time of year do newts normally lay their eggs? A bit later than frogs and toads or at the same time?
 
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