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Pool frog habitats: |
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Rupe Member Joined: 17 Sep 2007 No. of posts: 27  View other posts by Rupe |
Posted: 11 Jun 2010 Hi all, Before making to many comments regarding the loss of our(Native) Pool frogs i thought i should at least visit the last known site before they vanished. As this is not too far from me and i had a spare day, off i went.I was pleasantly surprised at the the habitats that exist in that area. The pools (pingo's as they are known)of which there were loads,varied considerably. Large to small,shallow to deep ,weed choked to weed free and in open, semi-shaded and shaded positions., all close to each other. I walked around and looked into 30 or more of these pools for hours (and miles) and it suddenly dawned on me that apart from aquatic insects i had seen nothing else. Perhaps it was not just the Pool frog that was lost but a great many other creatures as well. The following day, still mistyfied by the absence of ampibians etc.i walked the dog to a few small ponds that were local to me. Weather and time was about the same and what did i see ?. Thousands of tadpoles,hundreds of newts(common & great crested)one Common frog and three Grass snakes, all in about an hour of walking. Has anyone else had the same findings as me of the Norfolk area or explanations why such a diverse habitat yielded so little. |
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chas Member Joined: 30 Jan 2005 No. of posts: 27 View other posts by chas |
Posted: 11 Jun 2010 I would agree
with you. The site has
a great number of aquatic environments and plenty of ideal terrestrial
environments for herps, however, as you say they are extremely sparse on the
site. I have seen crested newt and grass snakes there occasionally but so far
no common frogs or common toads although I'm told they are occasionally found. The
number and apparent quality of water bodies there suggests that they should
exist in healthy quantities -- but they don't. I have on the
other hand visited a couple of ponds away from the bit that is a SSSI nature
reserve (i.e. on open pasture with a few hedgerows) and found thousands of frog
and toad larvae in ponds. Other people visiting the site have commented on this
mystery. Charles Snell |
- Pool frog habitats |