A Frog Story, a Pond, a Frog and a Humming Human

This tells the story of a simple garden frog, a pond, a humming human and a digital camera. What more could anyone ask? Animal curiosity? Trust? A frog Prince? A froggy kiss even? This story has them all!

Do you love frogs? Then read on for the story of Froglodite, (rhymes with Aphrodite) a beautiful amphibian, told in pictures for Pond lovers everywhere and particularly the Young at Heart.

I hope you will enjoy the story of Froglodite, but please take a moment or two to read about the hibernation of frogs and learn from the experience of last years Big Freeze. Imagine it is Winter again, outside it is -6 the washing is frozen on the line - and Froglodite is hibernating. How can we help her?

Photos and films used here are all my own work. Please respect and do not copy :)

Froglodite, a frog's story told in pictures....

This lens is a simple story about a frog who lives in a garden pond - my garden pond. Her name is Froglodite and she is not as shy as you might expect. Perhaps she knows she is safe here. Anyway, this is her story....

A tale of simple pond frogs

Froglodite in Dryworld

Where the beautiful waterlilies grew

....a rustling was heard among the dark leaves.

By such a strange humming sound

and Froglodite stuck her little frog nose out from under a lily pad.

And garden wildlife all watched as

....around the little garden frog the lotus blooms were spreading their peaceful message of a Pure Land.

She remembered that

....here she had raised her many tadpoles into fine young froglets.

It was so peaceful here...

....froglodite the garden frog felt so safe in Pond World

If you love frogs, or know someone who does, you will like these frog gifts and novelties I hope. I have chosen these simply because I think they are cute! I would add these to my frog collection any day!

It was true that

....she had often wondered about the worlds that lay far beyond.

as the

....strange humming noise grew more and more intriguing.

Froglodite thought to herself....

....Shall I explore the dry planet today?

And the little frog found it good!

....So bravely she swam all the way to the edge of the world in search of the humming

....even more bravely she climbed out of the silent pond into the humming dryness

....dry world felt strange on her delicate moist frog skin.

The weed felt prickly and dry!

....she found a moist rock near the pond and listened to the strangely hypnotic humming sounds.

....She saw the human but knew somehow she would be safe.

....and pointed its extra eye towards her and she heard a click. She let the human approach closer. This was the human who fed the Koi so she felt safe!

Froglodite...

watched the human with the clicky eye and listened to it hum. She was quite unafraid. Finally, with a plop, the little frog plunged back into Pondworld!

....that her adventure was something to tell all her frog friends!

....she was relieved to be home safely again!

The card is one of our Zazzle designs. In this freezing weather even the fountain freezes but we run it constantly to provide a opportunity for birds to drink and for the pond to oxygenate. We know from experience that frogs do survive this cold, but it is vital to keep the water oxygenated and to prevent build up of toxic gases under ice that will kill fish and hibernating frogs.

The best way is to make holes in the ice with a pan of hot water. Breaking the ice would set up shock waves that will disturb the whole pond and maybe kill the wildlife, pouring on hot water may shock fish. Don't do it!

If running the pump in a small pond, be careful that the weight of ice does not tip it over. It is possible to nearly empty a pond if the fountain waters the surrounding garden instead of recycling clean water! It is also worth remembering that ice takes more space than water and you may be deceived by the level of a frozen garden pond. Topping up could well be necessary! Remove snow whenever possible to enable plants to oxygenate water.

Frogs floating in a pond after ice.

Sadly we lost four frogs this week - discovered sadly when the ice eventually thawed out on our pond. They appear to have got caught in the ice. We could not bury them, so surrounded them with a stone cairn for now. The polar temperatures in Britain have taken their toll. I dearly hope some frogs have survived the freeze, if not it could be bad news for frogs in the UK.

Update on the frogs. It may be that the frogs were only hibernating. We had that from a wildlife expert. It is also possible that the hibernating frogs were rendered unconscious by methane in the water when the ice thawed out.

We found another hibernating frog floating head up in the water two days ago and there was no decay in the frogs under the cairn. We have put the frogs into deep piles of wet leaves and surrounded them with stones near to the pond. If they are alive, they may recover and make their way back into the water. Only time will tell.

If our frogs indeed died, it would be due to a build up of toxic methane under the ice. When a pond ices up, it is possible to safely make ventilation holes by putting a pan full of boiling water on the ice until it burns its way through. You can see that point, because the pan will tip over when it nears the end. You may have to refill it once or twice. Breaking the ice will shock and probably kill your fish. Today's note was that two cairns are now empty. It may be that the frogs have been taken away and eaten by a rat, or perhaps they did survive and returned to the pond. Fingers are crossed here!

Cairns Empty, Frogs in Pond

Today we have seen three very live frogs in the pond. two of the cairns we made are empty. The original still has frogs in, and they look dark, so they may be dead, but at least we have some survivors! The moral of the story? Do not give in to friends who wisely shake their heads and tell you to "dispose of" dead frogs that rise after icey periods. They may just be in a very, very deep sleep. You cannot wake them, or see their shallow breaths, but you can build a safe shelter near the pond and hope, like ours, that they will wake and find their way back to the water.

....to treat frogs and other wildlife kindly. They are the tiny brothers and sisters God gave us to show us we are not alone and teach us to care....

If you enjoyed the frog pictures, or the story of how they were charmed out of the with humming, please let us know.