Latest posts tagged with #spawnwatch on Bluesky
Frogspawn and tadpoles in a garden pond.
Massed tadpoles on top of water plants. A single bit of duckweed is visible... one of the last bits I haven't removed!
#Spawnwatch... the pond is now full of 100s of free-swimming tadpoles, but there's also some unhatched spawn that appeared late in the season, plus some recently hatched masses of tadpoles that are still in the sessile phase...
cumulative line graph showing number of clutches per annum 2006-2026
cumulative graph showing date appearances of clutches over the course of 2026
#Spawnwatch 2026 update... the surprise appearance of an additional (small) spawn clutch yesterday means that the graphs need to be updated. We're at 44 clutches for 2026, a huge high in the time that we've had ponds. And the new clutch adds a tiny uptick on the plateau that's existed since mid Feb.
Small tadpoles on degraded spawn.
Free-swimming, gilled tadpoles.
#Spawnwatch -- many clutches still not hatched, but others fully are, with the degraded spawn now decomposing and numerous free-swimming tadpoles in their early, gilled phase.
Line graph showing number of spawn clutches that appeared 2006 to 2026 at Tet Zoo Towers ponds.
Graph showing number of spawn clutches as they appeared over 2026, showing steep increase in early Feb followed by plateau with shallow incline.
#Spawnwatch -- we had a 43rd clutch of spawn appear on Feb 27th, so new graphs had to be generated. The plateau on the 2026 cumulative graph has a shallow incline but things are surely finished by now...
This is so exciting to see. I’ve been really invested in your #spawnwatch
Small, young tadpoles in water.
#Spawnwatch progress... a lot has hatched, and numerous free-swimming, gilled tadpoles are now present
Three pairs of mating frogs are sitting amongst a mass of frogspawn. They're surrounded by green aquatic plants and a few brown dead stems.
🐸 We have frogspawn at last! 🐸
And what looks like a frog free-for-all!
#SignsOfSpring #SpawnWatch #ClassOf2026
@arc-trust.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social
Single clutch of frogspawn in open water.
Tadpoles on top of algae-filled spawn jelly.
Hot #spawnwatch news... another spawn clutch, taking us to 42. Amazing. Most mature spawn we have has hatched, and the tadpoles are now gilled and a few are free-swimming already. This should be a good year for metamorphosis, even though I need to rebuild the pond asap.
Thrilled to report #Pondwatch #Spawnwatch 2026 is a GO in South East London ☀️🐸💚
We had that sort of graph initially. Then they built a pond in the graveyard behind us in a warmer spot and they got sidetracked. Sadly it now often dries up and all the tadpoles are lost, but I'm not sure it’s doing any harm to the population. This is just the start. #spawnwatch
graph showing number of frogspawn clutches appearing over 2026, currently at 41.
line graph showing clutch count 2006-2026, with marked increase after 2020.
I keep saying we're at plateau stage.. but it keeps climbing. First graph shows cumulative clutch count for 2026, and second shows clutch number per year since 2006. #spawnwatch
Frogspawn in muddy water.
One more clutch of spawn, again in open water. That puts us at 42 clutches now. #spawnwatch
Fourteen frogs! Fourteen! (Not all illustrated here.) #SpawnWatch
First frog spawn clumps of the year, my garden wildlife pond #spawnwatch #wildlifegarden #nature #pond #wildlife #pondlife #frogs
A close up photo of a fresh clump of frog spawn, mostly submerged above a bed of egg sized pebbles that are a mixture of light browns and greens. The protective jelly is only a slightly larger than the center of the egg, I think as it's freshly laid. The background is of the surface of the pond, reflecting out of focus vegetation and a light brown trellis.
Went to spy on the pond and the water looked like it was boiling with the number of 🐸. Sure enough, the first fresh clump of spawn was there! Latest date of the last 5yrs due to recent 🥶?
2022 14th Feb
2023 19th Feb
2024 9th Feb
2025 17th Feb
2026 22nd Feb
#SpawnSurvey #SpawnMap #SpawnWatch
Maturing frogspawn close up.
Maturing frogspawn close up.
And also in #spawnwatch news, the more mature clutches here have started to hatch. At this point, the animals aren't technically tadpoles, more like sessile proto-tadpoles free of the jelly. Despite the pond leak, they've all been rescued.
Clutch of frogspawn.
Different clutch of frogspawn.
Two clutches of spawn in open water.
Ok, major #spawnwatch news... I am blown away, because FOUR new clutches have appeared, taking us to a record-breaking 41 in total. Two were in shallow water, two in open water. Amazing news.
I couldn't help myself, and have written up #spawnwatch thoughts at Tetrapod Zoology. Shout-outs to key #books on British #amphibians, to nature gardening, to the ever-present menace of free-roaming pet cats, but above all to the value of #frogs... tetzoo.com/blog/2026/2/...
Pond with shallow end now partly drained.
#Spawnwatch news... disaster, the pond is leaking, the shallow end now mostly drained, leaving spawn high and dry. Emergency action has occurred, all spawn rescued. Am gonna have to rebuild :( No idea what caused this but always a risk with human-made ponds...
Cumulative graph showing frogspawn clutches building in number over Feb 2026.
Line graph showing total spawn clutches 2006-2026.
Here are updated graphs. Clutches 35, 36 and 37 add a bit to the cumulative graph but we're nearing plateau stage. For total data (2006-present), let's hope that 2025 was a blip and that 2027 will continue the trend. #spawnwatch
Frogspawn in shallow part of a pond.
Frogspawn in shallow part of a pond.
New #spawnwatch news... yet again I have underestimated our frogs, since two additional spawn clutches have appeared, visible here as the greyer clutch at central right, and the compact one at far right. This means 37 clutches for 2026, six more than for the previous record-breaking year of 2024...
I’ll show you the ponds tomorrow evening-but in the meantime happy to report the Tank Pond is a go! 🐸💚 #pondwatch #spawnwatch
Frogspawn visible in watery ditch
Frogspawn sitting on wet grass - not in the water!
Frogspawn spotted on #Dartmoor yesterday. Feels early to me, but I looked up spawning dates, and apparently mid-Feb is pretty normal in the Southwest. My Isle of Man childhood memories are probably influencing my expectations :)
#spawnwatch
#what3words funds.pigtails.slips
Frogspawn, my finger pointing to a new, 35th clutch.
Frogspawn in the shallow part of a pond.
Hot #spawnwatch news -- a new surprise clutch, taking us to an incredible 35!
A pond during heavy rain.
A pond during heavy rain.
#Spawnwatch... some extreme weather here today, with prolonged torrential rain and hail. What does this mean for frogspawn? You know, actually not much. The jelly is protective enough to mean that the embryos don't get damaged by rain or hail. It can protect them from ice as well.
Tiny baby cauliflowers in the Nantymeillion polytunnel
Daffodils blooming on the bank outside the polytunnel at Nantymeillion
Frogspawn found in the ditch at Nantymeillion
Here we GO!
@persiflage.bsky.social - something to make you smile
#spawnwatch #springwatch
Bore da from Nantymeillion, pobl!
Shallow end of pond with multiple spawn clutches.
Graph showing spawn clutches over time. 2006-2026.
Ok, so looks like that's definitely it for #spawnwatch 2026. No new activity and frogs have dispersed. All finished before Feb 14th, which is when things used to START back in the 1990s. With 34 clutches, we're at a new record. Now to monitor developing embryos and ultimately the tadpoles...
The Frog Chorus is currently performing an opera in the garden. It is glorious. Sometimes it's very hard to be a good and responsible pond owner, giving wildlife its space, when I very much want to be out there with my nose an inch from the surface. #SpawnWatch countdown begins now.
THE FROGS HAVE RETURNED!!!Yes I’m shouting!! #Pondwatch #Spawnwatch IS BACK!
