July is a great month to go frog spotting. Tadpoles that hatched from spawn in ponds in spring will be starting to grow legs and leave the water, so look out for tiny froglets hopping around near water. They tend to venture further afield after damp weather.

Frogs don’t live especially long, but can breed from two years of age, often back at the pond they spawned from. This is one of the factors that has led to a decline in frogs, as garden ponds get filled in and their habitats are lost. Pesticide and chemical use (wich run off into water bodies) and the spread of disease also mean that frogs have disappeared from the countryside in parts of the UK. More wildlife friendly gardening practices are helping to combat this and begin to reverse the decline in some places.

Some tadpoles will not undergo metamorphosis and will remain as tadpoles for another winter. If it has been a year with little food or colder temperatures then the tadpoles stay as they are, conserving energy for the following spring. To do this they do need their pond to stay wet throughout the summer, so if you have a pond you know played home to frogspawn please do make sure to keep it topped up for wildlife.