I was very excited to see the frogs return to my pond this year. But the spawn has disappeared, what happened to it?

It is frustrating when this happens and unfortunately it can sometimes be hard to find a cause. It could be that the spawn was not fertilised. This often results in the spawn turning cloudy in colour and sinking to the bottom of the pond. Or it could be down to the environment. The two things that all spawn desperately needs to develop properly are light and warmth. You need to let the sunshine in to your pond for tadpoles to thrive.

Occasionally, the top layer of spawn can be caught in a frost and killed, although often the spawn under the water can still survive. It is also worth remembering that spawn is very vulnerable to predators - your spawn could have become a tasty meal for fish, newts, grass snakes and birds.

Try not to be too disheartened. Even if you don't have a successful batch of spawn this year, frogs, toads and newts will still be using your garden and pond for food and shelter. A pond is a fantastic way for you to help wildlife in Sussex. So keep the area amphibian-friendly and you will no doubt have lots of successful spawning seasons in the future.

Posted in: Frogs, Toads and Snakes on 30 April 2015


Back to the in your garden homepage

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1787562273.56320 [907] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1787562273.5970.0338Matched route: discover/in-your-garden/article/[i:id]
1787562273.59710.0001Server address: 216.73.217.165
1787562273.59720Using master page: /templates/pages/in-your-garden/post.php
1787562273.59720Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /discover/in-your-garden/article/16
    [id] => 16
    [1] => 16
)
1787562273.59740.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/discover/in-your-garden/article' LIMIT 1
1787562273.59850.001 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1787562273.60040.002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=24429707
1787562273.60110.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=24429707
1787562273.60170.0006 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-08-24 09:04:00' AND saleTo>'2026-08-24 09:04:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1787562273.60270.0009 [1] SELECT collectionID, collectionTemplate FROM swt_collections WHERE collectionKey='Wildcall'
1787562273.60330.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, ci.collectionID, ci.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_collection_index idx JOIN swt_collection_items ci ON idx.itemID=ci.itemID AND idx.itemRev=ci.itemRev AND idx.collectionID=ci.collectionID JOIN swt_collection_revisions cr ON idx.itemID=cr.itemID AND idx.itemRev=cr.itemRev AND idx.collectionID=ci.collectionID JOIN swt_collection_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE (idx.collectionID=5) AND ((idx.indexKey='_id' AND idx.indexValue=16)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, itemJSON, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC
1787562273.6140.0107Using template: /templates/content/wildcall.html
1787562273.61420.0002 [1] Using sub-template: /templates/content/mixed_content.html
1787562273.61430.0002Using sub-template: /templates/content/text_block.html
1787562273.61440Using sub-template: /templates/content/thumbnails.html
1787562273.61440Using sub-template: /templates/content/image.html
1787562273.61450Using sub-template: /templates/content/gallery.html
1787562273.61450Using sub-template: /templates/content/video.html
1787562273.61450Using sub-template: /templates/content/ask_inline.html
1787562273.61470.0002Using sub-template: /templates/content/legacy_request_form.html
1787562273.61480.0001Using sub-template: /templates/content/image.html
1787562273.61480.0001Using sub-template: /templates/content/code_block.html
1787562273.61480Using sub-template: /templates/content/customisable_donate_form.html
1787562273.61490Using sub-template: /templates/content/contact_form.html
1787562273.6150.0001Using sub-template: /templates/forms/details.html
1787562273.61510.0001Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_data_protection.html
1787562273.61510.0001Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_personal_details.html
1787562273.61520.0001Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_address.html
1787562273.61520Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_personal_details.html
1787562273.61530Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_address.html
1787562273.61530Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_data_protection.html
1787562273.61530Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_personal_details.html
1787562273.61540 [1] Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_data_protection.html
1787562273.61730.0019 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories ORDER BY catTreePosition ASC
1787562273.62080.0035 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1787562273.62210.0013 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1787562273.62390.0018Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1787562273.62420.0002 [nil] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/discover/in-your-garden/article' OR regionPage='*')
1787562273.62510.0009No matching content regions found. Check region name (Banner image) and page path options.
1787562273.62510 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE idx.regionID IS NULL AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1787562273.62590.0007 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787562273.63010.0042 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/discover/in-your-garden/article' LIMIT 1
1787562273.63080.0007 [4] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-003-003-001-002', '000-003-003-001', '000-003-003', '000-003', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787562273.63350.0027Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1787562273.63360 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787562273.63410.0006 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787562273.63440.0003 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787562273.63730.0029 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787562273.63840.0012 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787562273.63920.0008 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787562273.64110.002 [0] SELECT setID FROM swt_category_sets WHERE setSlug='' LIMIT 1
1787562273.64210.001 [1] SELECT main.* FROM swt_categories main WHERE 1=1 AND (catPath='wildcall/frogs-toads-and-snakes/') ORDER BY catTreePosition ASC
1787562273.6430.0009 [1] Using template: /templates/categories/wildcall_banner.html
1787562273.64460.0017 [1] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, ci.collectionID, ci.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_collection_index idx JOIN swt_collection_items ci ON idx.itemID=ci.itemID AND idx.itemRev=ci.itemRev AND idx.collectionID=ci.collectionID JOIN swt_collection_revisions cr ON idx.itemID=cr.itemID AND idx.itemRev=cr.itemRev AND idx.collectionID=ci.collectionID JOIN swt_collection_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE (idx.collectionID=5) AND ((idx.indexKey='_id' AND idx.indexValue=16)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, itemJSON, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC
1787562273.64860.004Using template: /templates/content/wildcall.html
1787562273.64870.0001 [1] Using sub-template: /templates/content/mixed_content.html
1787562273.64880.0001Using sub-template: /templates/content/text_block.html
1787562273.64880Using sub-template: /templates/content/thumbnails.html
1787562273.64890Using sub-template: /templates/content/image.html
1787562273.64890Using sub-template: /templates/content/gallery.html
1787562273.64890Using sub-template: /templates/content/video.html
1787562273.64890Using sub-template: /templates/content/ask_inline.html
1787562273.6490Using sub-template: /templates/content/legacy_request_form.html
1787562273.6490Using sub-template: /templates/content/image.html
1787562273.6490Using sub-template: /templates/content/code_block.html
1787562273.64910Using sub-template: /templates/content/customisable_donate_form.html
1787562273.64910Using sub-template: /templates/content/contact_form.html
1787562273.64920.0001Using sub-template: /templates/forms/details.html
1787562273.64920Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_data_protection.html
1787562273.64930Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_personal_details.html
1787562273.64930.0001Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_address.html
1787562273.64930Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_personal_details.html
1787562273.64940Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_address.html
1787562273.64940Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_data_protection.html
1787562273.64940Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_personal_details.html
1787562273.64940 [1] Using sub-template: /templates/forms/_data_protection.html
1787562273.65120.0017 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories ORDER BY catTreePosition ASC
1787562273.65520.0041 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1787562273.65640.0012 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1787562273.65720.0008 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787562273.66030.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/discover/in-your-garden/article' LIMIT 1
1787562273.66090.0005 [4] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-003-003-001-002', '000-003-003-001', '000-003-003', '000-003', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787562273.66340.0025 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787562273.66420.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1787562273.66490.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1787562273.66540.0006 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787562273.6690.0036 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/discover/in-your-garden/article' LIMIT 1
1787562273.66960.0006 [4] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-003-003-001-002', '000-003-003-001', '000-003-003', '000-003', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787562273.67260.003 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787562273.6760.0034 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1787562273.6770.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1787562273.6780.001 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787562273.68130.0034 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/discover/in-your-garden/article' LIMIT 1
1787562273.6820.0006 [4] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-003-003-001-002', '000-003-003-001', '000-003-003', '000-003', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787562273.68520.0032 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787562273.68780.0026 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1787562273.71820.0303 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1787562273.71880.0006 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787562273.72190.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/discover/in-your-garden/article' LIMIT 1
1787562273.72250.0007 [4] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-003-003-001-002', '000-003-003-001', '000-003-003', '000-003', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787562273.72490.0024 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787562273.7260.0011Request time: 0.1642
1787562273.7260Process time: 0.164
1787562273.7260Memory: 1.7738