frogspawn

The ponds and puddles are stacking up with the familiar jelly clouds of frogspawn. Surprising really, that these squishy little promises of Spring, can evoke such a range of responses - from a resounding 'yuk!' - to an older generation's memory of school tapioca pudding - to the deliciously tactile reaction of 'cool... can I touch it?'

Times move on - and our children become more 'sanitised' and remote from their outdoor environment, (unless it involves an organised activity on a municipal area.) It becomes harder to recognise the faded storybook image of years ago, of a boy with tousled hair, short trousers and grazed knees, triumphantly holding a jam-jar, wrapped round with string for a handle, with a few tadpoles wriggling about in it.

My question and objection to this particular image, is why was it always a boy? - where were all the girl tadpolers? I prefer to describe myself as a tadpole rescuer - and indeed, spent many an hour as a child, painstakingly retrieving tadpoles one by one, from highly unsuitable, watery graves, to more plentiful ponds - no doubt leaving the little wrigglers, to take their place in the pondlife foodchain. I didn't think about that part - preferring instead to enjoy the feeling of wellbeing from saving so many tiny lives.

Nothing much has changed for me on the amphibian front. Of course, I see the bigger picture now, but I will be out there tomorrow with three little helpers, scooping, collecting and re-homing jelly bundles. I can even feel a mini-pond project coming on!

For more information on frogspawn, tadpoles and ponds, try these links to get started: www.beautifulbritain.co.uk and www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/springwatch