Frolicking Frog Frenzy!
Amazing amphibian amplexus ...
I got a call from my wife. She was in the park walking the dog and had noticed an absolute abundance of amplexus in the rather ditch-like stream that trickles near the playground.
Oh, and an explanation for the deviation from hedgehogs … as many of you will know, I ended up getting a hedgehog tattoo as part of my midlife crisis … and then wrote a book (The Beauty in the Beast) which ended up with me getting another (almost definitely the last … though a badger would be good, and a robin …) - and that ‘final’ tattoo was of a toad. I ended up doing various events with the conservation charity Froglife and am a big fan of the work they do.
Yes, I know a toad is not a frog. But the amphibians are particularly amazing - and both species are useful in a way that hedgehogs also are … useful in raising awareness about how one thing can help another. Efforts we undertake - putting in a wildlife pond, wildflower planting to attract insects, ensuring connectivity between gardens - all help hedgehogs, and frogs and toads!
The reason they are useful is because they are species we get a chance to get a close look at. Toads and hedgehogs are ‘easy’ in that they have no fight or flight response - both well-defended … the toads have an array of toxic glands on their back that act in much the same way as the hedgehog spines! The frog? Well, they are much more flighty - in fact the easiest way to tell frog from toad is really just attitude. The toad will look at you with a golden eye and mutter, if you listen closely, ‘well, come on, if you think you’re hard enough.’ Whereas the frog will yelp and bounce away!
But if you find a ditch in a park filled with a writing mass of mating frogs - well, then you have a chance to get a close look at one of the marvels of nature. When I got to the park there was spawn everywhere, the frogs were all over each other. Amplexus is the word for the tight grip the males gives the female which enables fertilisation. Sometimes this becomes a ‘mating ball’ as other males join in and the frenzy can lead to the female being drowned.
There was delightful murmur of croaking as I got down on my hands and knees - and eventually onto my tummy as that was the best way to get the photos. Zoe filmed me doing my ‘Attenborough’ - it was only when I got home that I realised I had lain in something a little smellier than I would like … that is the second time this has happened recently (I wrote about it on here but there is a paywall, sorry … well, unless you are interested in garden writing!)
Anyway - the photos give you an idea of the joy that is to be had from watching, getting close to, nature. And with those moments of joy come, I hope, the opportunity to fall just a little bit more in love with the world we share - remember those words I often return to, from Stephen Jay Gould, ‘We will not fight to save what we do not love.’ And whats not to love about frogs in the process of ensuring the continuation of their species!
More bits and piece from me can be found on instagram and bluesky. Hope you all manage to find some lovely nature out there!
Always an exciting day, for me anyway, when I find frogs and spawn in the spring! Seems this year is a good one in that respect. I wonder if there’s a cycle because in past years I’ve struggled to find any. Here’s to frogs and toads (and hedgehogs!)in abundance! 🍻🐸
Amazing. Let us all glory in the wonders of nature.