I had a sneeky feeling last year that something ate my frog spawn. I also had a paranoid thought that someone may have come and stolen it for a joke! Anyway, last year all my frog spawn disappeared overnight. The only possible clue was a disturbance of the gravel on “the beach”.

I wondered if it could be a fox. I guess a load of frog spawn may look like caviar to other creatures.

The best explantion I could find was Newts, that apparently eat spawn and tadpoles as if they are going out of fashion.

This year I decided not to advertise the laying of the spawn on my site in case a trickster was involved. each morning I made sure that new batches of spawn were protected by chicken wire. I soon found one possible culprit. My dear cat, Darcey. He was desperate to get at the spawn. He prodded and poked between the chicken wire and licked his paws a lot. Frog spawn must be tasty to cats.

Here is the evidence – naughty cat!

I think he could have been responsible for some of last year’s loss, but not all. Last year one ball of spawn was laid a good 80 centimetres from the shore and about 30 centimetres deep. That disappeared the same night as all the rest.

I can’t see a cat going that deep or that wet to get at frog spawn. I can believe that a fox might though.

One side effect of all this protection was that the water turned a thick pea green colour as the tadpoles began to emerge.. I was worried it might affect them. I removed the chicken wire and now, two weeks later, I can report that the water has has become crystal clear again and the tadpoles seem to be doing fine.

It’s quite hard to take photos of them. I think I probably need a polarising filter.

This year there are pond skaters skipping about the surface of the water. A new species for this year.

I visited Stourhead Gardens last Sunday and spotted water boatmen in their lake. I always enjoyed watching water boatmen as a child. I d be very happy if they somehow found their way into my pond. I suppose I could introduce them, but that seems a bit unfair. one of the things i like about my pond is watching to see how the wildlife discovers it is there. Mind you, I suppose protecting the frog spawn is an unnatural thing to do.