Tadpoles


We have a pond, and from February on it pretty much gets filled with frogspawn.  By now I would normally expect to find no tadpoles left when I dip the pond.  This is normally my prompt to clean the pond out for the year, and to get a pump running to turn the pond into the feature that it is supposed to be.  This year is different.

At the weekend a quick netting session was still catching loads of the little blighters, and they still have full tails and only vestigial legs.  Normally by now, (mid June in case you don't pick this story up at first posting), any weeding or other gardening in the area around the pond would disturb loads of miniature but perfectly formed little frogs.  This year they are way behind schedule.  Proof, if any were needed, of just how cold and miserable the weather has been so far this year.  Let’s hope it doesn’t continue like this!



You can see that the tad in the picture still has a full tail and no front legs to speak of, although most of the ones that I looked at have started to develop these.  Since the pond pump and filter are likely to ingest and mush these little guys, I guess we will have to live with a stagnant pond for a while longer.

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