Spring brings an abundance of new life and a heap load of inquisitive questions thrown at me from the kids. Questions like, “is that frog spawn or toad spawn?”
If you too want to know how to spot the difference between the two spawns keep scrolling. In the post we have clear images of both frog and toad spawn which makes identification easy.
When can you spot frog spawn and toad spawn in the UK?
In the UK you can spot frog and toad spawn from February.
We discovered our spawn, mid March when we headed up the valley to visit one of our favourite lakes. We arrived to the sounds and sights of hundreds of toads and frogs mating in the sun.
Amongst the reeds the kids spotted two different types of spawn and wanted to know why they were different.
There is a main visual difference between frog and toadspawn. Once you see what that is identifying between the two becomes easy.
What is the difference between frog and toad spawn?
Toads lay their egg in long strips. Tpad spawn is often wrapped around foilage found at the bottom or alongside the edges of ponds and lakes.
Frogs lay their eggs in clumps. Frog spawn is often seen floating on the surface of ponds, lakes and even in puddles.
The lake became the kids outdoor classroom for the day where they spent ages just watching the frogs and toads.
Reading from one of our books, we learned
- a female frog can lay up to 4000 eggs!
That’s a lot of spawn. Sadly not all of them will make it but as we’ve discovered in previous years, come August time there will still be lots and lots of tiny frogs.
How do frogs and toads lay eggs?
A female frog or toad will release eggs into the water which is fertilised by a male who is clinging onto the females back.
It is possible for more than one male to fertilise a spawn.
Fights often broke out between rival males whilst we were watching them.
Being at the lake was a lot of fun and it’s amazing how much knowledge kids absorb just by watching and listening. The other day after the trip to the lake, our daughter correctly identified toad spawn whilst looking in the pond at the uncles house. “Are you sure?” we asked. ” Yes, it’s in a long strip, not jelly like frogs” she replied.
We hope you have enjoyed this post. We love spending time exploring nature and learning all about our local wildlife and we are excited to share what we discover with you.
Jo.
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