Family Planning

At the allotment today, digging over some soil. Clearly My plot is beside a Common Frog Breeding Ground as this was a common sight. Not only that but the number of stunned and dazed Frogs that I was digging up was incredible. There are two very small ponds either side of my plot, They are no where near big enough to deal with the number of tadpoles that are coming their way.

This female was enormous and at first I thought this must be a rather large baby it's carrying. Naive or what? It was just a big mama and her beau. Frankly he was nothing to look at, but that's not uncommon these days either. A few minutes and a dip in the pond later and she was out and about touting her wares. Are they really that permiscuous? I love that he has pond algae hanging from his eye and she sporting a rather fetching dirty mouth. It must be the smell that attracts them more than the visual. Now that's not an approach I think we humans should adopt.

I have a basic camera lens, so can't begin to tell you how close I was, or how much I jumped as she leaped away with him clinging on for dear life. And so here is my entry from this weeks Planning Challenge. Although had they planned this meeting?

If you want to know more I sourced this for you:-
This Common Frog is one of the most widespread and common species of brown frog (member of the Ranidae family) in Europe.

The common frog can breathe through its skin. This enables it to hibernate for several months beneath piles of mud and decaying leaves or underwater. In the wild, the common frog can live for up to 8 years. Males tend to be slightly smaller and darker than females, and can also be distinguished by the dark bluish-black nuptial pads (swellings) on their first fingers. These pads become more pronounced during the breeding season, (February to March) helping males to grip on to females during mating. The common frogs? smooth skin varies in colour from grey, olive green and yellow to various shades of brown and is covered with irregular dark blotches. Common frogs have brown eyes with black horizontal pupils, and transparent inner eyelids that protect their eyes while they are underwater.

Common frogs do not feed at all throughout the breeding season, but when they are active they will feed on any moving invertebrates of a suitable size, such as insects, snails, slugs and worms, which they catch with their long, sticky tongues. Adult frogs feed entirely on land, whereas younger frogs will also feed in the water.

The common frog is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside act 1981.