Frogspawn, in the Pond

I’d been hoping that the frogs might breed in my “pond”, and here it is! Not having a proper pond, I’ve installed a couple of ceramic basins, each about 2 feet across, with some rocks and plants+soil in fabric bags made from an old sheet. Half buried in the soil and tucked in a damp corner, this seems to be fine for frogs. Looking forward to babies in a few weeks! Other signs of sprint arriving this week, included a first Small Tortoiseshell butterfly in the weak spring sunshine on 13 March.

A Nice Clean Pond

I've got two large terracotta basins that provide permanent water in the garden. Both have rocks, some duckweed, irises and bulrushes, and both had tadpoles.  Otherwise though, the wildlife coming to these ponds has been a little disappointing: only a few hoverflies.  While the baby frogs continue to grow in one basin, they completely disappeared from the other - not sure what happened, whether it was predation (e.g. by blackbirds) or disease.  Anyhow as the water was looking a bit dirty I took the opportunity to change it, and it was gratifying to see an adult frog cooling off in there the very next day.  Hoping for some dragonflies, pond skater, etc. to move in next.