Lucky you! It is fun to watch, and really, just let them get on with it. This year I noticed that the ones that sunk actually did hatch too, I think because overall the pond was warmer this year. Whatever happens, they will gradually eat the stuff. They do eat constantly! Go out at night with a torch, and you will see some of what really lives in your pond. When they get their legs, they will need to safely be able to get out of the pond and live on land for awhile (or they drown). So make sure they can get out of the pond, and not onto paving slabs (poor things are so delicate they stick to the slabs and fry). The froglets are quite amazing (tiny perfect frogs) and will need to find shelter under plants, rocks, etc. For awhile you will be spending your time in the garden looking down before each step!! Only 4 in 1000 will make their way to adulthood to spawn themselves. So you can never have too much frogspawn, and anything you can do will help! They start off as algae eaters, but later become carnvivourous and will eat one another. Mostly everyone else eats them including newts & frogs, dragonfly nymphs, but they do survive. Bigger fish though much their way through a lot of tadpoles. There are some really good information websites on frogs and other pond life--just google and you will find! The bugs are incredible too, like the caddis fly larvae and their amazing houses, and damselflies and dragonflies. The latter leave their papery perfect exoskeletons behind on leaves before they fly off. So welcome to the wonderful world of ponding. You may find yourself making a second, bigger pond.... Chip

It isn't against the law from your own pond. They do however suggest that you only transfer frogspawn to the same postcode. This is to try to reduce the spread of diseases like red leg and the new fungus that is killing frogs. You need to ask the donor if they ahave ever had dead or diseased frogs in their garden, and if the answer is yes, don't take it. Another thing you have to think about is that you may also transfer invasive plants like Azolla (fairy moss), Swamp stonecrop (Tilia recurva) etc which are very difficult to get rid of. I forgot to ask- do you have a pond, and how old is it? If it is quite new frogs might find it by themselves. Here is a link that might be useful: Froglife website

Welcome to ponding--and the unpredictability of wildlife. Frogs, and I believe newts, and especially toads, like to spawn in the pond they were brought up in for the most part. It also takes a few seasons to mature enough to spawn. So the tadpoles that hatched in your pond last year will take another couple of years or so to mature enough to spawn themselves. The other thing is that at spawning time, they do like a crowd, and so your neighbours pond I imagine has been really noisy so attracting amphibians from a long way away as 'the place to be'. And they do travel a long way between spawning, I wouldn't be surprised if your amphibians thought the neighbours party was a bit more lively. I have newts, but I do find them hard to spot (I only see them at night with a torch), much less to count. They do like cover so you may have newts, but have not seen them yet. After 6 years of ponding, I have yet to see a 'newtpole' so lucky you for spotting them! Finally, does your pond have sloping slides so they can crawl out, and shallow areas? Frogs don't like to lay spawn in deep water--the deepest I have seen it is my pond is in less than 6 inches. Newts also like places to hide next to ponds, and I have noticed they have made their homes underneath a rockery that line a part of the pond. Newts I understand also like particlar plants to spawn in, like water starwort. There are some good information sites on amphibians, but I don't have time to list them now. Another night perhaps! Chip

Thanks for the info, Damp. Very interesting, but I still like to separate a few blobs of frogspawn to give them a fighting chance. I don't have loads of frogs, so I think I'm only helping out Mother Nature at the moment. Well, that's my excuse anyway! The frogspawn in my pedal binliner has all hatched out and the tiny babies are breaking through the gel, but the stuff left in the pond is still in egg form. Chip, if you're reading this, have a look at Damp's Froglife info because it says that frogspawn is black and is paler underneath. The spawn of mine that you thought would be infertile, actually isn't. All of them have hatched! Big Kid