Tadpoles!
We are into tadpole season in Clackmannanshire.
Judging from the number of toads you see on the roads from time to time (see below) there must be a lot of tadpoles about to spring forth.
There's a lovely spot by the River Devon between Tillicoultry and Dollar where a tiny pond has developed over recent years.
Frogs spawned there recently and you can now see embryonic tadpoles beginning to move in some of it.
Last year there was a massive amount of spawn here but, as the first tadpoles were swimming about, someone built up the bank of the little nearby burn that feeds the pond and it dried up, leaving desiccating spawn and tadpoles struggling in the mud.
We rescued several hundred (struggling tadpoles and viable spawn).
We counted them by moving them from one container to another a few tens at a time and photographing them as we went. It was easy to count them on the photos.
Tadpoles are now beginning to develop and move
Toads On Roads
The roads that spring to mind for toads crossing are the B9140 along from Coalsnaughton and the back road out of Dollar about where it meets the A91 on the way to Muckhart.
But that's probably only because I've had to slowly wend my way around them in those spots in the past, attempting not to add to the numbers of flattened ones.
There must be other hot spots where I haven't been at the 'right' time.
You get frogs too of course, but not like the loads of toads on roads you sometimes get.
Frog or Toad?
One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a frog and a toad without getting out of your car is to threaten to drive over it.
Last year the pond's source was blocked causing a large number of tadpoles to die
If it hops it's a frog, if it walks it's a toad, and if it doesn't move it's probably a toad, or it's already lost a fight with a car.
Update: 27 April 2009
The pond now looks empty of tadpoles but it isn't.
There are nothing like the numbers that were there (and perished) last year but, if you look for a while and get 'tuned in' to their colour being similar to the pond bed, you'll start to see some.
Update: 14 June 2009
The tadpoles are doing well this year. See this walk description.
