I had to do a bit of work on the pond today, nothing serious just some adjustments to plant-pot depths and side levels. I started taking a few of the pots out of the water, and suddenly saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and heard a plop!
Crouchy the Common Frog
Let me introduce you to “Crouchy” the common frog. Named after the new Portsmouth FC striker Peter Crouch … who also has very long, thin, gangly legs.
So where do frogs come from? Yes, OK I know, I can hear you saying “tadpoles” – Oh and some joker’s saying “frog-spawn”. Very funny! What I mean is this frog has just appeared. The V-team dug my pond on the 16th of June and now here we are on the 14th of July and he’s just… sort of… “appeared”.
I washed off all the plants that I begged, borrowed and stole from friends ponds (so he didn’t come in that way), and as far as I know there isn’t another pond in the whole of our road.
So how did he know that I had a pond? Where did he come from? Are there hundreds of “wandering frogs” all looking for a good home, and sometimes they just trip (or hop) over a new pond? Or does the word go round the frog community that there’s a des-res down the road looking for a new occupant?
Who knows, anyway he looks pretty healthy (a lot of this year’s frogs aren’t) and I’m glad he’s here… cos I’ve got loads of slugs!
Welcome Crouchy and lets hope you have a good season!
URBAN EXTENSION 
I know what you mean here, I have a frog in my small pond and as far as I know the whole of my garden is sealed by concrete posts, I have visions of it scaling my fence, theres plenty of slugs to eat anyway.
Hi Mike. I like that idea… fence climbing frogs. I have a friend who had a fence climbing otter… but never a frog! Ditto on the slugs, he’s welcome to mine (before they eat every vegetable in the veg plot).
Obviously a very desirable pond!! Great to hear that you have wildlife in there already. I have the same situation as Mike – a garden that is sealed by concrete barge boards with only very small gaps at each post. I currently have 5 frogs (can be exact because I’ve just re-dug it yet again!) and loads of newts! No idea how they all got there – but I just hope the grass snake from the garden 2 houses away doesn’t also find his way there as it would not be the frog capital for much longer!
I dont think frogs actually live in water, water is just a means of reproduction and safety. I think that probably most houses have some form of amphibian life already in their garden, the addition of a pond just brings them out of their damp dark home!
I know of a woman who discovered frogspawn floating in her outside toilet. I’ve found some lying in the middle of a track. I know Crouchy left his frogspawn quite some time ago, but my somewhat rambling point is that these items were left by frogs, and there was no frog in that toilet. In, deposit, out again. Incredible. Long may Crouchy survive.
Hi Steve (DWT), I’d love to have a grass snake in residence… although I suppose the frog wouldn’t actually last long with one about! Hope the water stays in your new pond… if you need any “mozzies” I have a few thousand to spare! Jane
Hi Karen. Thanks for visiting UE and the useful “frog” info. Hopefully I should have a few more coming out of their damp dark homes soon… the frog I have is getting a bit lonely! It will be interesting to see what happens next spring. Jane
Hi Dragonstar. How strange… I guess when you are desperate you just have to “go”… I wonder whether the frog spawn in the loo progressed to tadpoles… or were they flushed away? Great story… thanks for that. Jane
I have the opposite question. Where have all my frogs (and newts and toads) gone. A few years ago there were loads in my pond. Now – not one 😦
Neil. Maybe they are on their way to my pond! Jane
You know very well that the good Lord above just outstretched his godly hand complete with “crouchy” in it, and popped him in your pond….. 😉
Ah! how sweet! Maybe that’s how Peter Crouch got to Portsmouth… or maybe it was the £11 million pounds that exchanged hands..
how funny is this everyone that comes in my yard and hears the frogs want to know where they come from but come back every year 3rd yr in a row . very sad about my pond the fish were about 15ys old all diff sizes(42 fish) and disappeared in one day anyone else have this problem. just online and think its raccoons . i still cant believe what happened we really enjoyed them.
We looked out our window and there were two ducks on our pond. After they flew away we were missing two big fish.
Sharon. Really sad to hear about your fish. At 15yrs they must have been like family pets… We don’t have raccoons in the UK. Over here it would probably be blamed on heron (if they were smallish fish) or otter (who will eat any size of fish). However, if you get an otter in your garden most people are quite happy, because they are still quite rare (and hardly ever seen).
ok i find the frogs finally!
It’s Sept. 14th, we live in Indianapolis. We suddenly have 7 small frogs in our pond for the first time this year! They do just seem to come and go? So they don’t really live in water? Anyway, it’s good to see them.
Hi Gina. It’s funny… where do they appear from? My frog has now disappeared. Funny little creatures. They mate and lay their spawn in the water. I think some do live pretty much all the time in water… depends which species. But you do get tree frogs and lots of different sorts. Thanks for visiting. Jane
Frogs and fish can suddenly appear in your pond due to their eggs being picked up (unintentionally) on the feathers and body’s of birds that migrate from one body of water to another. Some of these birds are ducks, geese, heron, egret, etc.
The birds might only ‘land’ in your pond for a few minutes, but the landing might be just enough to jostle some eggs off the bird and into your pond. Same thing can happen with fish eggs.
That’s really interesting Russ – thanks for the info. No ducks, geese, heron or egret in my garden unfortunately…. I think my frogs just walked (or hopped) here!
I,m so happy for the information as I have had two beautiful resident frogs in my pond area all summer. They are so fun to watch and dive into the water for safety.
Great to hear about your frogs. I’ve been rounding up the frogs in my garden so that I didn’t run them down with the lawnmower… they are everywhere this year!
bobo naman ninyo
Yeah, we have two frogs that suddenly “appeared” in our pond as well. Well, first there was one that we didn’t know where it came from, and then we heard two different pitched “crooooak”s, so we knew that there are two. We don’t have very many slugs in our garden, but lots of snails(I hope they like them). I really want them to breed!
Good luck with your frogs! I hoped mine would breed – but not a single frog this Spring (even though there were loads of froglets in the autumn). Fingers crossed for next Spring. Let me know how you get on!
every time it rains I empty water that is caught in my pot plants and find
baby frogs in every one. I want to know where they come from
They should now be moving into cover for the winter (if you are in UK) but you will quite often find little froglets in all sorts of strange places where there is water. My friend found one in his dogs water bowl in the kitchen!
jane I live in Australia in a place called mount beauty it is an Alpine area my pots are high up on a verandah. I was wondering if they
come with rain
Margot – that really is bizarre! Maybe they did, but frogs can be pretty good climbers as well. They don’t need much water to survive – insects are their main target and maybe your pots/plants are insect heaven (hence the frogs!).
i have a swimming pool converted into a fish pond and attached to a bog flter / i have had toads for year / they hibernate over the winter and come out and croak in the pond the first spring rain / somehow this summer baby frogs arrived / i have been puzzling over mysterious occurrence / the fish guy jacob at central market said they can come with the rain / somehow the polliwogs get sucked into the sky and fall down somewhere else / this theory is not plausible but i like the water bird theory / i have had an egret visit me many times hmmm what a fascinating idea / since the frogs showed up the blue heron has too but not wish them well
Very likely the birds! I’ve heard that they can sometimes carry the eggs on their legs from other places. Thanks for your comment your fish pond sounds great!
Thanks you are helping me for my science project
Im in the UK, I have a fairly new pond (installed about 6 months ago,) today I went out and checked yo find I have two fish missing, one of which is my prized shimbumkin so im very upset at that, but also discovered I have a huge frog in there, he clearly wasnt born in the pond given his size, im in an urban area no other water or ponds nearby so im baffled as to how he got there.
That’s strange. I wonder if you’ve had a heron visit your pond. They have been known to come right into urban areas. It would be fascinating to see a photo of your frog. I expect it’s a common frog – but it could be a non-native species that someone has released into the wild. Don’t hesitate to email me at jane@naturewatched.org with a photo, and leave another comment on here so that I know to expect your email. – Jane