Spawn on the 9th of March, nine days earlier than last year

14 March 2026 · 3 min read

The frogs do not care about my calendar, but I keep one for them anyway. In 2025, the pond’s first spring, the first clump of spawn appeared on the 18th of March, a single mass about the size of a grapefruit in the shallow end over the pebbles, after a week of nights around 4 degrees and days reaching 10. There were three clumps in total that year, and I was delighted with three.

This year the first clump was there on the morning of the 9th of March. The thermometer I keep hanging in the water at the shelf had read 7 degrees for five mornings in a row before that, following a run of mild, wet nights, and I had heard croaking from the kitchen on the 7th and 8th without being able to see anything. By the evening of the 10th there were six clumps; by the 12th, eleven, merged into a raft that covers perhaps a third of the shallow area. On the night of the 10th I counted nine frogs in the torch beam at once, four of them paired.

The spawn is all in the same place, over the pebble beach where the water is 10 to 15 centimetres deep and warms fastest in the day. None of it is in the deep end. I have resisted the urge to spread it about, since the frogs presumably know what they are doing, and I have also resisted the urge to count the eggs, which would be in the thousands.

Two concerns. A hard frost is still possible in March, and the top of the raft is already above the waterline in places, where it will dry if the level drops. I have topped the pond up with 20 litres from the water butt to keep the raft wet, and if a frost of more than minus 2 is forecast I will float a piece of bubble wrap over the shallow end for the night, which worked in 2025 for the one clump that was exposed. And the blackbird has already discovered the spawn and has been taking beakfuls from the edge. I am choosing to accept that.

If the pattern holds, tadpoles should be out by the end of the month. Last year the first ones were free-swimming on the 2nd of April, and the first tiny frogs left the pond in the rain on the 30th of June.