Frogs

admin
, 18 February 2020
Frogs
© Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

By Charlotte Owen

WildCall Officer 

Frogs have spent the winter in hiding.  They are surprisingly hardy little creatures but don’t cope well with frost and ice, so they seek out a sheltered spot where they will be protected from the worst of the weather and safe from hungry predators.  Frogs will often burrow into compost heaps, hide amongst rotting wood, crawl under slabs or sit on the bottom of the pond, where they settle down for a long sleep on a deep bed of mud, absorbing oxygen from the water through their skin. 

Their reappearance is one of the earliest signs of spring, and January sightings are increasingly common.  It all depends on the weather and one of the best predictors of frog activity is overnight temperature.  Generally, a run of several consecutive nights with a temperature above 5°C will trigger the annual anuran awakening, as frogs, toads and newts all shake off their slumber and start heading back to the water. 

Their irresistible urge to return to the life aquatic heralds the imminent arrival of frogspawn season, arguably one of the most exciting events in nature’s calendar.  Ponds across the county will soon be filling up with an army of amorous frogs, and in this case love can be a battleground.  The males usually arrive first, each keen to claim a prime pond-side location.  Their soft, insistent croaking is more of a purr than a ‘ribbit’ and is quite pleasant to human ears.  To another frog though, it sends a completely different signal.  Males croak at each other in a vocal battle of intimidation, similar to the way that stags bellow at each other during the rut.  Rivals listen keenly to judge whether to take a chance or keep their distance.  Meanwhile, the croaking sends a different signal to arriving females, who are greeted by a sea of potential mates singing a resplendent frog chorus.  Some males manage to intercept a female before she even reaches the pond and will piggyback the rest of the way.  This doesn’t always guarantee success and multiple males may follow suit, each striving to dislodge his competitors and contribute to the next generation.

Leave a comment

Comments

  • Frances Teresa:

    Frogs arrived here (Hollington) as usual and the first spawn was seen on 15 February. This is extra exciting since two years ago we had spawn but it was infertile and so very few tadpoles. Last year we had lots of frogs but no spawn at all. So this year we were anxiously waiting. it looks as if all might be well. There are three large clumps of spawn and still many frogs in the amorous stage! Since we have four ponds, there is room for everyone!

    20 Feb 2020 20:52:00

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783263277.38860 [906] 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
1783263277.43160.043Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783263277.43180.0002Server address: 216.73.216.170
1783263277.43180Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783263277.43190Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/frogs
    [s] => frogs
    [1] => frogs
)
1783263277.43220.0004 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.43790.0057 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783263277.44020.0024 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1783263277.44090.0006INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1783263277.44280.0019 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22655787
1783263277.44350.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22655787
1783263277.44410.0006 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-05 14:54:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-05 14:54:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783263277.44550.0015 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='frogs')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-05 14:54:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783263277.44820.0026 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783263277.44880.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=1977 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-05 14:54:00'
1783263277.44960.0008 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783263277.45020.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783263277.45090.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=181 LIMIT 1
1783263277.45150.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=61 LIMIT 1
1783263277.45220.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783263277.45240.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783263277.45320.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-05 14:54:00' AND postSlug='frogs'
1783263277.47430.0211Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783263277.4750.0007 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783263277.47650.0015Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783263277.47670.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783263277.47750.0007 [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=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783263277.47890.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783263277.48270.0038 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.48330.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783263277.48550.0022Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783263277.48560 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783263277.48640.0008 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783263277.48690.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783263277.48940.0025 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783263277.49040.001 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783263277.49110.0007 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783263277.49410.0029 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.4950.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783263277.49710.0021 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783263277.49760.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783263277.49780.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783263277.49860.0008Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783263277.49890.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='frogs')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-05 14:54:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783263277.50090.002 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783263277.50130.0004 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783263277.50460.0033Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783263277.50560.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=1977 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783263277.55650.0509 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783263277.55710.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783263277.55720.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783263277.55810.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783263277.5590.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783263277.55960.0007 [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
1783263277.56250.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.56310.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783263277.56550.0024 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783263277.56660.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783263277.56730.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783263277.56780.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783263277.57040.0026 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.5710.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783263277.5730.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783263277.57680.0038 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783263277.57760.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783263277.57810.0005 [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
1783263277.58040.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.5810.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783263277.58350.0025 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783263277.58570.0022 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783263277.58650.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783263277.58720.0007 [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
1783263277.58940.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783263277.58980.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783263277.59180.002 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783263277.59350.0017Request time: 0.2085
1783263277.59350Process time: 0.2083
1783263277.59350Memory: 1.6216