Leisure
Spring has arrived, the days are getting longer and those of you that have a pond in your garden will be eagerly awaiting the first sight of courting frogs and the laying of the first spawn.
It is a well known fact that the frogs in the south of Ireland arrive and spawn before their more northerly counterparts. The reason for this phenomenon is believed to be climatic. An article published recently in BBC Wildlife magazine indicates that the precise factor determining spawning time is the cumulative number of warm days from December to February. The trigger for spawning seems to be a last minute rise in maximum temperature. So, it is understandable that frogs in the milder south of Ireland should breed before those in the north.
This trend was observed in IPCC¹s 1997 Hop to It Frog Survey and it is being repeated in the 2003 survey. So far, records for spawn have only been received from counties Cork, Kerry, Wexford and Kilkenny. It was once said that frogs begin spawning in earnest on St. Valentine¹s Day, so from next Friday keep your eyes wide open as you walk in your garden or in the countryside and you may be rewarded with the sight of spawn!
If you would like to take part in the frog survey, you can contact me Noreen McLoughlin at the IPCC, 119 Capel St, Dublin 1 (01) 8722397. Alternatively, recording cards can be downloaded from our website http://www.ipcc.ie/. At this site you can also see an up to date map of the frog distribution in Ireland.
© Copyright 2002 by the author(s) and www.castlebar.ie
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