Frogs

New Home

It would seem they've woken up from hibernation. Either they can "smell" spring, or even they are fed up with this weather. There were literally hundreds of them on the road yesterday evening, the worst part is that they were impossible to avoid, especially with the traffic. I vaguely remember reading that in some parts of the country there were groups of volunteers that would monitor stretches of roads, pick them up (or was it toads) and then help them cross the roads a coulple of times a year, as well as help build wildlife tunnels. Does anyone know if they are active, and if they are, where are they based?


Running them over was utterly heartbreaking, poor little froggies.

tricky D

Up in our area at least 2 weeks now. In an area called the Bog of the Frogs, unsurprisingly.

Mickeroo

Are they spawning yet? We put a small pond in last summer, was hoping to attract some but no sign so far.

Markcheese

New Home wrote: »

It would seem they've woken up from hibernation. Either they can "smell" spring, or even they are fed up with this weather. There were literally hundreds of them on the road yesterday evening, the worst part is that they were impossible to avoid, especially with the traffic. I vaguely remember reading that in some parts of the country there were groups of volunteers that would monitor stretches of roads, pick them up (or was it toads) and then help them cross the roads a coulple of times a year, as well as help build wildlife tunnels. Does anyone know if they are active, and if they are, where are they based?

Running them over was utterly heartbreaking, poor little froggies.

What part of the country are you ? Rarely see frogs in East cork ,

New Home

Mickeroo wrote: »

Are they spawning yet? We put a small pond in last summer, was hoping to attract some but no sign so far.

They are alright, I'll see if I can dig out the links to the other posts mentioning this. If you only built the pond last summer, give it a bit more time, they'll find it eventually.

Markcheese wrote: »

What part of the country are you ? Rarely see frogs in East cork ,

This was in Connaught.

magicbastarder

lots of spawn in our back garden pond, the most we've had since i dug it, probably four or five years ago.

Alun

Loads of it around here in Wicklow for as couple of weeks already.

Rew

Our small pond is full of spawn form about 2 weeks ago at least which is a pain as we wanted rid of the pond (we have small kids)

New Home

Ah, keep it!! Fence it, but keep it, you can teach the children about all the wildlife and how to be safe around water, too.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=112625154&postcount=371

magicbastarder

kids love ponds. we don't have any ourselves (i.e. kids), but any time we have young nieces/nephews or children of friends around, it's the first thing they head for, they just love poking in it.
every garden should have a pond. i was kinda taken aback when i was digging ours at the number of people who assumed we'd be finding dead children in it on a regular basis.

auspicious

http://www.ipcc.ie/help-ipcc/hop-to-it-national-frog-survey-irelandcard/

Quick survey to record frog populations in Ireland.

Rew

magicbastarder wrote: »

kids love ponds. we don't have any ourselves (i.e. kids), but any time we have young nieces/nephews or children of friends around, it's the first thing they head for, they just love poking in it.
every garden should have a pond. i was kinda taken aback when i was digging ours at the number of people who assumed we'd be finding dead children in it on a regular basis.

Yeah they love it, we monitored the whole cycle last year met many big frogs and saved them from our dogs (foxes seem to eat them judging by the cctv though) but the youngest has been in it once already... It's not just my kids its friends etc. and drowning is the num 1 killer of kids. It would be difficult to secure given location in the garden too so its long term future is not secure.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu37o3Tnz_u/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwfnFYgHhMI/

Mickeroo

Rew wrote: »

Yeah they love it, we monitored the whole cycle last year met many big frogs and saved them from our dogs (foxes seem to eat them judging by the cctv though) but the youngest has been in it once already... It's not just my kids its friends etc. and drowning is the num 1 killer of kids. It would be difficult to secure given location in the garden too so its long term future is not secure.

Is that true? Would have thought traffic accidents were the leading one.

Rew

Mickeroo wrote: »

Is that true? Would have thought traffic accidents were the leading one.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs347/en/

I haven't checked for Ireland specifically to be fair.

magicbastarder

second most common cause in ireland.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/calls-for-state-funded-swimming-lessons-as-drowning-now-second-biggest-cause-of-accidental-death-in-children-in-ireland-38834794.html

i know someone who has a metal grid over theirs, it's got a pleasant rusty patina on it, so doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Mickeroo

Rew wrote: »

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs347/en/

I haven't checked for Ireland specifically to be fair.

This is the only one I could find for Ireland, third behind road traffic and falls in 2017:

https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/child/childsafety/publications/inj-risk.pdf

Caveat is the Irish link includes ages all the way up to 18 as children, i'd say drowning gets less common the older the kids get (your link seems to back that up too with it being the number one cause in some countries for accidental deaths ages 1-3).

magicbastarder

seems that swimming pools are where more of the fatalities occur than anywhere else, but i'd be curious how much of a factor it is that in a pool, it's very easy for a child to get out of their depth, less likely to happen in a pond. there are obviously other complicating factors with ponds.

Silent Running

Mickeroo wrote: »

Are they spawning yet? We put a small pond in last summer, was hoping to attract some but no sign so far.

We had a pond for a few years with no sign of spawn. I know it isn't allowed, but a local man arrived with a bucket half full of spawn he saved from a deep tyre track on his land. We put it in the pond and have had frogs returning every year since. This year is a bumper year for spawn for us.