The loneliest tadpole

There is only one tadpole left in the Garden of Shaz. Its been on its own for a few weeks now and I cant help thinking how lonely it must be.

About 4 weeks ago it had two companions, both well developed froglets and nearing their time to leave the pond. One of the two froglets had a very under-developed back leg and I didn't think it would make it out of the pond with only three limbs. But it has, its gone and I can only hope that it has survived with its back leg continuing to develop.

I noticed that the last tadpole started to develop its back legs last week. That's a good sign because now it should start to develop its front legs very quickly and then be able to leave. The worry with this tadpole becoming a frog so much later than the rest is that it has a shorter period of time to grow into a strong adult frog before the cold weather arrives.

I've been trying to make the garden frog friendly since the froglets emerged from their ponds. I've not weeded at all to avoid disturbing them and to keep more of the garden shaded. This last month has been very hot so shade has been important to keep them cool. The wide but slug ravished hostas and bushing day lily leaves should provide a dark and cool environment. The day lilies are in bloom now with the first flowering on the 20th July.

I've also made little hiding places with large stones and lumps of mud.  The birds are probably their worse nightmare and I've seen a blackbird darting into the foliage and coming back out with what could have been a little frog in its beak. I cant help lifting a few stones to see if there is a little frog beneath. Sometimes I'm lucky and its great to see the frogs growing larger.

I cant be sure but I think the frogs might be able to adjust their skin colour to suit their surroundings. I found two frogs on either side of one of the ponds. One was under a stone in the grass and was light brown. The other was under lumps of mud in a dark muddy area. This frog was much darker brown. However, I had also noticed a difference in colour as some of the first few were leaving the ponds for the first time. At that time they were mostly living in the pond so there was no difference in surroundings but there was already a difference in the shade of brown. So why would the same family of tadpoles look so different?

Tadpoles and frogs

tadpoles and frogs 2013, a set on Flickr.
This week I became the proud 'foster mother' of froglets. I've been looking after approximately 100 tadpoles this spring after frog spawn was laid in the bird bath. Its taken about 6 months for them to start to develop into frogs but now the first few have the rest are changing quickly.

I couldn't believe it when I first discovered the frog spawn in late January. Its never happened before but for some reason mother frog decided to lay her spawn in the not too suitable place of the bird bath. Its only an old frying pan but it had about an inch of water in it so I suppose she thought it was ok.

Realising that the birds would disturb or possibly eat the spawn I put a ring of chicken wire around the pan. Then all I could do was wait, top up the water when needed, and worry about the frosts that would freeze the water some mornings.

Its been incredible watching them develop; from tiny black dots in the spawn to miniature tadpoles, from huge tadpoles to tiny frogs. Its almost like observing evolution; a species changing in front of my eyes.
Once all the tadpoles had hatched the bird bath really was a totally unsuitable home. The water would cloud up with air bubbles very quickly which didn't seem right.

I separated them into three larger containers, two upturned lids from indoor green houses and a washing up bowl. They had a lot more room and I could change the water much easier too. Again, chicken wire was used to keep the birds away.

The next few months were quite uneventful. The tadpoles grew and developed very slowly. I fed them on goldfish flakes to start with but I wasn't convinced they were eating it and it made the water go cloudy. I also tried boiled iceberg lettuce but in the end I would just drop round lettuce and various leaves from the plants in the garden. They seem to like tulip leaves the best.

As the tadpoles became more like frogs the containers needed to be put into the ground to become more like ponds. That way the tadpoles could start to stretch their legs on land but still have the safety of the water. Once the first container was sunk into the ground it took only 5 minutes for the first froglets to venture onto dry land. It was incredible watching those first froglets experience their new environment.

Since then most of the froglets have left their ponds. I used to spend hours watching the tadpoles swimming around and froglets climbing out, exploring and jumping back in. Now there's a strange lack of activity and very little to see. Hopefully I'll be able to spot a few frogs in the garden, and who knows, maybe there might be some more frog spawn next year.