Frog Spawn Arrives

Ah, the joys of Spring. Monday morning saw me frantically trying to create a shallow area in our far from ideal garden pond to stop all the frg spawn which appeared over the weekend from sinking into the depths. I learned recently that this kills frog spawn, and our pond has a constant depth over the entire area of about 0.4 metres.

An idea wildlife pond should have variable depth, with shallows and a deepest point of around 0.75 metres. This provides a range of habitats required to support all the life in the pond. The deeper water is important, as is the total volume because the temperature varies too much in a small shallow pond. Hot Summer days will heat up the water too much, starving the water of oxygen. This makes the pond water go green and kills the animal life. There should also be easy ways in and out of the water for wildlife, and good cover around the pond.

Unfortunately our pond fails on all these points! I have plans to make a much better pond, but that project has yet to start.