Frogs return to my pond

I awoke this morning to loud croaking chorus from our pond heralding the frogs return following hibernation.

The pond is just outside the conservatory window and the frogs notice the smallest movement at the window - but definitely 13 frogs at the moment

Courtship in full swing as they are already jostling to form pairs.

Males and females common frogs look the same but there are a few clues you can look for.

The female common frogs are often a bit larger than the male and the female has a darker throat, while the male’s throat is often white.

Common Frogs Return

After the pond froze yesterday I was really surprised to wake up this morning to a pond full of writhing frogs.

Too many to count at the moment as they dive at the slightest twitch of the curtain, but we often get 30 -40 frogs a year.


Many of these frogs have travelled from outside of our garden.

This one was crossing the pavement outside our house and open its way to our front gate.

Occasionally they pair up even before the reach the pond (which is in our back garden) such as this pair

Any I find on the way to the pond I give a helping hand and will be keeping an eye out over the next few days. Last year I found a couple of frogs who had not managed to reach the pond and died - so I now give them a hand

More frogs and nuptial pad

Over 25 frogs in the pond today, possibly more beneath the surface.

I intercepted this frog on the way to the pond and placed it in a container for a few minutes to have a closer look

This is a male. You can see the nuptial pads on the toe of the front leg. The frog uses these pads to help grip the female while mating.