Family Reunited

The last few days have seen big changes in this pond of ours. More plants have appeared giving better cover and there are some interesting new piles of stones, ideal for hiding between while waiting for prey. The grill over the water surface helps protect us from becoming prey ourselves, but some enterprising froglets have found it makes a great climbing frame too.



The plant pots on the left and right sit on slate and brick frog houses, apparently provided by a friendly deity to give interesting places to hide. But everyone who have explored the area say that there are some great places to hide in the plants.

But the biggest news has been the arrival of the rest of the family. In total another 258 tadpoles have joined us from the old box where we first hatched, making nearly four hundred of us in all. Even better, twenty five new froglets turned up, to join the thirteen still building up the courage to leave the trug. I was amazed just how small some of them were. The biggest trug froglets have bodies over a centimetre long; these newcomers seemed tiny in comparison. Still, it was great to see our old friends again.



The other really great news is that I gained front legs overnight. My sides had been itching for days and recently I found that my back legs were becoming pretty useful for struggling onto the edge of the lily leaf floating in the trug. They are getting noticeably stronger as I use them more. But now I have front legs too, and its true - your appetite really does disappear once your legs appear! I've spent much of today just sitting on a stone at the surface, building up the courage to start exploring further afield.