Froggy went a-wooing, or for a trip in a Land Rover

The Safari had a couple of volunteers working in the gardens today. First up was to remove the last of the few Sticklebacks from the pond. Last autumn we took out well over 100 of the scaly devils - why are they such a nuisance...they eat just about ALL the invertebrates in our dipping pond -so they have to go. We thought there were only a handful left in there...eventually we hoiked out well over 30 and we hazard a guess there are still some lurking in there that we'll have a bash at next week.

 

Some inverts manage to escape the multitude of jaws. The back swimming Water Boatman is capable of chomping through small Sticklebacks.

The snails are reasonably well protected from all. There are at least four species in the pond, three of which can be found in the second picture down.

The it was out to a local home to help a lady rid her pond of a plague of Frogs! She had concerns that her pond was a danger to her small child and as much as we don't like having to move wildlife from perfectly good habitat for 'sentimental' reasons we appreciate this was case when the end was probably justified. The pond was small and full to the brim of spawn - there was tons/gallons of the stuff!

The young uns wielded their nets with aplomb and within half an hour 19 Frogs were in the bucket, along with an unfeasible amount of spawn! A very very gentle drive saw them released to a pond where they should be safe for a good many more years. The Sticklebacks were also released but not in the same place, somewhere where they can't interfere with any Great Crested Newts which might be in the vicinity.

While we were tying up some loose ends in the office we left the young uns to tidy away a bit of timber for a job next week - as they were doing so they disturbed a Wren, a species we've yet to find on Patch 2.

Where to next? Mothy is out, hope there's something in it in the morning...
In the meantime let us know who needs evacuating from your outback.