Common Frogs © Richard GallonSpecies Focus - Common Frog (Rana temporaria)
As spring regains its hold, we welcome the return of our Common Frogs to their breeding ponds. A garden wildlife pond can be an endless source of joy at this time of year. The first to arrive are the adult males. These trailblazers are initially very cautious, diving under water at the slightest disturbance. However this wariness is soon abandoned as more males join the throng.
Common Frog © Wolfgang Wuster
Successful males hold onto their female in amplexus to fertilise the female’s single clump of eggs (frogspawn) when she lays them. As more individual clumps of spawn are laid, these expand in water, often fusing together to form a massive spawn raft in the warmer, shallow pond margins.
Common Frogs © Richard Gallon
We would be pleased to receive your records of Common Frogs (adults or spawn), so please submit them the Cofnod ORS or the LERC Wales App.
You might also like to browse the Wales Online Amphibian & Reptile Atlas. Here you’ll be able to zoom into the atlas map and see where there are recording gaps for frogs in Wales.
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