good news

anwyay...spotted the little tench dude wiuht the black stripe. not seen him all summer though. ahve given up on babies.

Horror

So I go to feed my boys this morning and what do i find - old big fish, King of the Pond has got a graze on him. It is like he has snagged himself on something. What can that be other than some cat claw? He does not seem too bothered though., swimming around like nothing has happened.


Apologies for the writing readers. Have just been watching the Wire and the desire to tlak in some homey slang is overwhelming like you feeling me?

Anyway check these pics. What happens? do they heal? Yes that white patch is where he has been snagged and the scale is all standing up.

Baby fish

No. Nothing. Nada.

VERY dissapppointing.

I KNOW one year I saw a few tiddlers roaming around so I know it can happen but nothing.

I wasa rather hoping for somehting this ear as the rolled up chicekn wire is well established down there now and the big koi could not poissibly get down there. In fact there is a WHOLE NEW WORLD down there just waiting for fry.

ah well. summer is young.

water barrel establishes eco system

The tadpoles in the water barrel have now hatched into gorgeous little froglettes. It is really good to creep up on them and watch them basking in the sun on the rock or hiding in the green grass.

Have decided that the frogs just might stay in the water barrel and not jump away like last year's final remaining frog so have taken the plunge and moved the bowl from down the bottom and dropped them into the water barrel.

Found out hat Vince has been using the other receptacle for water so no wonder very few left in there. Too shallow for them as well.

Rather excited at having my own frog community. Have added various stones and stuff so they can hide under there. Mum seems to keep the the whole year round so that is my aim.

take a look at the photos and if you squint you can see various little tiddlers hanging round by the rocks.

tadpoles

Have three buckets of tadpoles on the go.. one lot in the water barrel which is problematic as it is very dense with green slime in there...every time I try to scoop it out i get the tadpoles with it so plan to leave them and see how they survive.

The other lot in the basin thing are so small. I reckon they have been kept out of the light so have not grown very well. Have now moved them out form under the bush into the sunlight but the bowl is so shallow i have to keep topping it up.

And finally, the third lot are from my mums. Fat little things. I have put them down the end of the garden in the washing up bowl. doing well.

cleaning out the house

up at 7.30 for some god forsaken reason and decided to do somehting positive instead of being so damned depressed all the tinme. so cleaned out the summer house, patching up the hole with gaffa tape! you can see how I have pulled out all the chairs and stuff.

the rain had been getting in during the winter and has made the cushions all damp...so leaving them outsdie to dry.

who says cryogenics is a myth?

Tow bits of extremely good news.

ONE - the tadpoles HAVE survived. snow barely touched them. They have put up a sign saying "You cant get me copper" and they are swimming around and feeling goooooood!

Their little characters are starting to develop already.

I feel so excited that they will be around for the next 3-4 months as they grow into little froglettes and then...jump into the pond! NO!

They say that frogs return to the place where they are born to spawn again so I keep checking the washing up bowl at the bottom of the garden. This was where I had moved last year's gang to save them from jumping in to the pond "way hey" only to be eaten by King of the Koi.

SECOND bit of good news - and this IS a good one....THE TADPOLES HAVE SURVIVED IN THE WATER BARREL!

This is the most fantastic news...why? because the water barrel has always been designed to be their natural water garden habitat. If all goes well then they should be born AND spawn in here for future years.

My very own froggery.

Snow in the garden

The heavens opened and the snow fell up to 5 inches thick in Brighton!

Having just found that my spawn had survived and my tadpoles had LIVED I then had to watch the snow and ice freeze my poor boys over in their beds!

Vince loved the snow...went out running and barking and biting at it.

he fish all went under the bridge and decided to stay there till it had gone. It is hard to believe that 24 hours later it IS all gone!

mixed feelings

I just know this batch of tadpoles are going to be a mixture of sadness and joy.

Yesterday morning I come downstairs….take one look at the spawn and think it has all dissolved and then – joy of joys – the tadpoles are born…..teeny weeny little dots wiggling rounds in the water!

Then today, the snows come. They are suspended in frozen icy water.

Will they survive?

Meanwhile, my mum has had two frog deaths.

spawn

Good news/bad news on the tadpole front.

This year we are able to start with some actual frog spawn kindly donated by my mother.

You may remember that last year I added a new water barrel, filled it with rocks, plants and stuff. I added some tadpoles last year and they just disappeared straight away. This year I am thinking that the barrel must have stabilised and so added a lump of spawn to that and a smaller lump to this flat water pool container thing.

Anyway, the spawn in the water barrel appears to just sink straight away. Very dissapointing. I feel like i have committed a frog massacre. Same with the other container. ho hum.

My mum is a bit of a frog whisperer it would appear.

We were fiddling about with her pond when she lifts up some plant in a pot she has floating and it was pandemonium – we counted around 14 frogs on all shapes and sizes and colours. I don’t know how she does it. The smallest one was not much bigger that the finger nail sized babies when they first leave the pond.

Welcome to the Pond for 2008!

Today was the official opening day of the pond…..I cleaned out the water filter and seriously cut back all the grasses and rushes. Stupidly tried to burn the rubbish in the chiminea and smoke went everywhere.

Pond is looking goods. It would appear that everyone has survived. It really was like welcoming old friends as they all came out one by one. Took them a few minutes to realise there was food to be had but slowly and surely they all came out and started to have a nibble.

I have started with the flakey stuff as it is probably easier to digest after the long winter.

roll call

1 x white comet with red spots 5-6
1 x shebunkin – 5-6inch
1 x red and black goldfish – 5-6
2 x blue orfe 9-10 inches
1 orfe – 9-10 inch
I large ghost koi – 12 13 inche and 2-3 round the girth
1 x orfes - stil quite slim. About 4-5 inches
2 x silver koi 5-6 inches
2-3inch. orange with a black stripe along the top
1 x shebunkin.. 2-3 inch...
1 x 3-4 silver koi

winter shut down

A weird year in the fish pond and many MIA after a lousy summer. Where do they go to? Neither do they appear to have grown very much which is also quite disappointing.

In reverse order then….

We started the season with the following, current status follows

1 x white comet with red spots – 5-6 in YES
1 x shebunkin – 5-6inch - YES
1 x red and black goldfish – 5-6 in YES
2 x blue orfe 8-9 inch YES have grown slightly now more like 9-10 inches
1 bendy tail orfe – 8in NO MIA!!!
1 orfe – 9-10 inch YES…still fit.
I large ghost koi – 12 13 inche and 2-3 round the girth yes but has not grown much
2 x orfes - only one of these stil quite slim. About 4-5 inches
1 x goldfish – about 3-4 inch nope MIA1 x black shebunbkin MIA

Then in April the following were added…

2 x silver koi (1 about 2-4 inch and 1 about 2-3)

Now I *think* these guys are still with us and have grown enormously now weighing in at a fabulous 5-6 inches! That is some serious growth but I guess it just has to be them!

2 x golden rud... 2-3inch. See this is the *odd* thing…there is still one there orange with a black stripe along the top but has not grown at all compared to the koi…strange

and 2 x shebunkins... 2-3 inch... and again only one of these left

May
1 x 3-4 silver koi1 x 3-4 white koi

There is still one of these…a very white/silvery fish so not sure which one it is.

I will continue to watch the pond until it is totally shut down. Disappointed toi have suffered so much loss this year. A strange never happened summer.

Gone!

No sign of the froglet in the water barrel at all. Ah well. Don't know if he has hopped it or whether it is a toxic environment. very disappointing.

So I took the washing up bowl with the other two down the other end as I could risk the new froglet jumping out and into the mouth of Mr Koi and his greedy mates.

The final tadpole is losing his tail now and turning into a froglet but the other one is gone. At least he had a sporting chance of jumping out of the bowl and into the grass somewhere. It would be so good to have our own spawn next year.

The most amazing thing just happened!!

Just popped outside to take a quick look at the frog and I actuallyy CAUGHT HIM on his way out of the pond and on the decking...making his bid for freedom!

Unknown for him the nearest water is koi infested and he would be fish food in five minutes! So i chased this little inch long thing round the decking till I caught him and popped him in the water barrel.

i had been thinking of doing this anyway but nervous about changing their environment. But I had no choice. I hope he survives and settles there - so may even return to spawn.

I ahd just been listening to "how to save a life" by the Fray as well

the new froglet likes it here!

well the new little froglet is still with us.

we have never had a baby frog hang around so long....usually they turn into fro0gs and poof! they are gone in what seems like hours. this new guy seems to have taken up position on the stone in the bowl and like sit there!

wouldn't it be so fab if he decided to stay?

what is happening at the dark end?

check out these two pictures and compare them to april posts. haven't the reeds grown this year? There is about six inches of windy rooty territorythere which I KNOW is home to all the new fish who have been added this year. but where the hell are they? There are two shebunkins, two small koi and two golden rud. PLUS the two 3-4 inchers we added a couple of months ago. As you can see in the picture the Dark End is protected by a roll of chicken wire. My heart stopped this morning when I saw the King of the POND throw his body over the wire to get in there.

And How can you discipline a fish?

Little fuck.

So...will this year be The One....??

is the Dark end both heavily protected and populated and ready to pour forth joyeous baby tiddlers who can live in safety and grow to be big guys or will it be the opening scene from Finding Nemo?

frog crisis!

Exciting moment his morning.

Peaked into the old bowl where the first frogs had lived (thinking it to be devoid of life of course) and what did I see?

a poor spreadeagled froglet wrapped in green hairy weed.

i grabbed a stick....carefully wound the weed away and aournd the stick....liberated mr frog!

IN the process I found 2 more tadpoles with all their bits grown and gradually losing their tails -0nly about 2 days to go there I reckon.

Anyway.,....emptied a lot of the water out of the tub so the frog could get up onot ht estone easier and popped a few sticks to assits wiht the final walk to freedomw.

Ran upstairs. grabbed camera.

a sad day

so I come downstairs to feed the fish, check on the tadpoles and guess what. Yep, little tails have been shed and they have left home.

I felt quite bereft. They are only frigging tadpoles but i have nurtured them soince they were spawn! emptying out their bowl when the water got to high and trying to pick up tadpoles off the decking with my fingers (yuk!).

there are 3/4 left now.

It makes you wonder...I WISH I had had a web cam fixed on the bowl... at what point in the last 24 Horus did they go "Right guys...time's up...time to face to big wide world..." and then they climbed on to the rock and jumped for it ..into the unknown. How brave!

and so they are gone...teeny weeny little .75 inch tiddly frogs....I understand they burrow into the ground.

should find out really.

Life in the water barrel is looking good. The tadpoles I added last week all seem to be thriving.

The new little babies I added about six weeks ago are FINALLY starting to get the guts to show themselves. Saw two of the shebunkins together today. keep getting glimpses of the little white koi and saw one of the golden rudd as well.

No sign of George or Caroline's new fish.

The water garden

I have wanted one of these for ages. It's a genuine old sherry barrel which i have filled with various plants as a home for the new tadpoles. With any luck these ones might just return next year and leave some spawn

Tadpoles

A far better showing on the tadpole front this year. I have been keeping them in a bowl by the pond although I have just bought a new water tub to put some more form my mum's House in. Anyway....I appear to ahve kept around 8-10 and they are now starting to sprout little legs and arms on a daily basis. there are quite a few looking like little baby frogs with long tails. These tails will now gradually shorten until they are ready to go and then - poof - gone!