An Important Rescue Mission . . .

In this video I go on an important rescue mission to save some vulnerable animals…
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#Frogspawn #Pond #Garden #Frogs #Rescue #WildlifePond #WildlifeGarden #Wildlife #Nature #Wild #Rewilding #Tadpoles #UKAmphibians #AmphibiansOftheUK #UKFrogs

[@SnugglesPlays]

Awwww, well done Joel, this was a brilliant rescue. I can't believe how much frogspawn there was! I absolutely love watching your videos. I wish there was more people like you around the world. 🙂❤

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

I'm getting there slowly with the comments! ;) Thank you, so very much. I couldn't leave it there... the resident I spoke to said that the area continues to dry out and then returns to a wet area each winter, I just couldn't leave them there. I know it's nature and we shouldn't interfere, but all I could see was many potential lives there and I just wanted to give them a chance :) So glad you are enjoying the channel, it's exactly what I need to hear sometimes - support and encouragement from people like you really does make a difference, thank you. Best wishes, Joel

[@chrisgale5634]

When I was growing up in the 70s nearly everyone in the street had a pond. These days ours is virtually the only one, it is shocking how bad it has got.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Absolutely true Chris, I think we can safely say here that everyone's grandparent's probably had a garden pond, then there were purported safety issues (I do realise that some children unfortunately came to harm) but these are such a great resource to show children how vital they are and all the creatures that need them, and of course show children that water bodies must be respected and treated with caution - let's home the trend comes back to more and more gardens :) Best wishes, Joel

[@SisterDogmata]

Yep everyone had a pond back then. It suddenly became fashionable to have a pristine garden. Nice there's still some of us who prefer being wild haha.

[@chrisgale5634]

@@SisterDogmata I think things went really downhill in the 80s and 90s with "makeover" programmes. It became fashionable (very sadly) to turn back gardens into virtually sterile places that were basically an extension of a living room.

[@chrisgale5634]

@@SisterDogmata I call them coffin gardens.

[@SisterDogmata]

@@chrisgale5634 Ha ha never heard that before v funny and v true!

[@GregsWildlife]

Greal job Joel, some great advice there.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thanks Greg - will be in touch real soon - hope you're having a great weekend :) Best wishes, Joel

[@SisterDogmata]

I saw my first brimstone today. A beautiful butterfly.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Yes! Brilliant to hear this, they're pretty stunning aren't they :)

[@SisterDogmata]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton Absolutely beautiful.

[@kcooper7140]

I saw my first brimstone today too! 🦋🌞

[@SisterDogmata]

@@kcooper7140 Yay Brimstone twins haha!

[@453421abcdefg12345]

Not sure who owns that plot of land, but it would be good to get in there with a digger and lower the centre of the area to allow water to form a deeper, longer lasting body of water, there could be a spring feeding it, but it has now silted up making it into just a shallow bog, I notice a bricked up pipe in the background bank, so it looks like it is an area that regularly holds water. Stay Safe! Chris B.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Hi Chris, yes the resident I spoke to said it is damp in winter but dries up completely in late spring/summer. Not sure whether it used to be a pond, am leaning towards the fact it is a run-off area for other ground water but possibly something more before the housing development adjacent to it... it's a council-owned green but that's about all I know at the moment. Hope you've had a good weekend, Joel :)

[@SisterDogmata]

Best video yet! I don't think we ever grow out of the joy of watching spawn turn to frogs.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you - so glad you enjoyed this. Wish I could have brought some spawn to you but I'm really hopeful you'll get some before you know it :) Best wishes and thanks again for your encouragement - Joel

[@itsmewende]

You are natures hero. I have places like that in my yard, I've never even thought about looking in them, I will now. I love my frogs, I have some huge bullfrogs in my pond, they float around just hanging out while I'm in the garden.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you Wende :) Glad this has given you more to do than you already are doing! ;) Let me know what you find - best wishes, hope you've had a good weekend, Joel

[@itsmewende]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton I just looked this morning, nothing where I figured they would be. I'll keep an eye tho, rain lays 3 - 4 inches deep in that low area, probably 10 feet long as well. It's been a really nice weekend so far thanks, cloudy over the afternoon now, hope yours has been nice as well.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

@@itsmewende Keep me updated :) Fabulous weather here this weekend. Best wishes, Joel

[@itsmewende]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton Will do, I also have a good size ditch between the fields and my way back yard, I'm going to keep an eye on that too. Last week I heard what we here call peeper frogs, they're all in my ditch. Not sure why they're only here these weeks of spring.?

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

@@itsmewende Hi Wende - that's fantastic. I believe these type of water bodies (your ditch etc) are known as "vernal" which means in the spring time and the peeper frogs (great sounds!) will be there to breed, frogs here are usually seen in greater numbers around ponds in Spring as that is one of the reasons they use them, the adults will then usually go off into undergrowth to find food and by the time the vernal pools dry out the tadpoles themselves would have grown and dispersed - look out for frogspawn! :) Best wishes - Joel

[@chrisgale5634]

Supposed to be quite mild for at least next week so places like that will rapidly dry out. Great job! 👍

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Absolutely Chris, if I'd known they'd have a good chance I would have course left them, but I couldn't let them perish - too many potential frogs there! :) Best wishes and thanks again - Joel

[@george-1961]

Love this clip Joel. Every time Most of us are learning something new whenever there’s a new upload from you. Keep up the kind work 👏🏻😊

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you George, so glad you enjoyed this - so glad it's helping people further :) See you real soon! Best wishes, Joel

[@williamsclive2900]

Fantastic news Joel great to see you saved this spawn .. and thanks for the mention... my suriname is Williams lol .. great upload mate ... hope all is well as always 👍🐸🐸 love this 😊😊

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Hey! When sitting having lunch and gazing over at the large puddles, I remembered your rescue and then thought "woah, has that been a year now already?!" and as soon as I'd finished I wandered over and lo and behold, there it all was! All good this side, still on the large garden makeover and the weather's been kind these last few days - best wishes, have a good day - Joel

[@williamsclive2900]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton amazing Joel..that was a turn up for the books ... looked a lot was saved well done ... nature has been my hobby all the way back to when I was a kid ... there was hell of a lot more about then ... that's why it's so important to step in and help when it's needed. Well done 👌

[@alisonburgess345]

Just looking at that spot, I wonder if that's a filled in pond? Poor little frogs ... Well done saving the little guys..

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

It does seem to have that feel of an ancient pond that was slowly eroded with adjacent development etc. I wish I'd had more time to find out, and I might even try to look into it more when I get a little time. All I knew was what the resident told me about it being sodden throughout winter but then quickly drying up completely mid to end of Spring. I couldn't look at them, some hatching etc and walk away without trying to save these future frogs :) Hope you've had a good weekend, best wishes - Joel

[@dinkydog56]

Pretty amazing.

[@battleguybarry5973]

Brilliant joel we'll done 👍

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you Peter - definitely couldn't have walked away knowing these potential frogs would have died through dehydration - I'll keep you all updated but they're doing well so far :) Best wishes - Joel

[@MarkyBigSmoke]

Fascinating video Joel; I have learned something new and of course would only intervene if they were in danger of drying out. That cuckoo video series was amazing! Thanks for sharing

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you Mark, so much - totally agree that if they're not in danger or likely to be harmed then they stay where nature put them :) So glad you enjoyed the cuckoo rescue, I'll be listening out for him from end of April. Well, I say me... he was released at my in-laws garden only 300 ish yards from where he was found so they'll be listening out again :) Best wishes - Joel

[@micksmusicchannel]

Great rescue mission Joel. I completely agree that if something is at risk it should be saved. The argument about the circle of life in nature is a valid one, but with species declining in numbers we do need to help, so well done. Hope the cuckoo was ok, did you rear it yourself? Many many years ago I worked for the largest UK animal charity so often acquired young that needed saving or euthanasing. I was never comfortable with the second option so often was accompanied home with by all kinds of creatures, some of which stayed with me for quite some time. My 2 favourites (if you can have a favourite) were Jack the carrion Crow, and Steve the Starling. Both of who learned to talk. Infact Jack was a better talker than my African Grey Parrot I had at the time. Jack was a nestling when he came to me and as he grew it became apparent that he was unable to use one of his wings, although I couldn't feel any break. This was confirmed by my vet who suggested he was just disabled. He was a real character and I miss him to this day.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thanks Mick, appreciate that. I just couldn't leave those tadpoles to perish, once I'd discovered them I don't think I would have slept much knowing those potential frogs would have dehydrated and starved over a short period. There is no spawn or frogs in my mother's barrel pond so they will suit it there and we have already installed rocks for exit for other creatures so when they're froglets they can escape easily. Wow, Nikki's favourite the Carrion Crow, she'll be pretty envious about that. She also rescued a starling, called it "Rad" as In "Staling-rad", took it to the vets and they asked her if she'd take a collared dove back with her when they said they couldn't find anything broken - so she went with one rescue and ended up with two! I feel you re missing the rescues, there's a 3 part series on the channel and in the last part I had to do the "take" several times as I was rather choked up - here's part 1, I know you'll enjoy it Mick: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoTUfaabiamVhLM I of course had the "you've rescued a parasite, you should have left it to die" comments here and there 😂

[@micksmusicchannel]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton Thanks Joel I'll watch it now. Crows are so intelligent. Also had a few magpies, they are so beautiful, as are starlings. One thing about crows is you're never aware quite how big they are until you have one sitting on your shoulder. Thanks for the link, I'll watch it before sorting out my dogs 😀👍

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

@@micksmusicchannel We had a jackdaw that befriended us when we were younger, he stayed around and followed us for a good few months - I'll tell you about the rather sad ending (not for him) when I see you! But get your tissues out for part 3 of the cuckoo video ☺hope it brings back some fond memories for you....

[@micksmusicchannel]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton just watched it all Joel and the hedgehog video as well. I absolutely loved it and had the same mixed feelings I always get when I've released animals. Unfortunately my weakness is I get attached to them so it's always sad to see them go. But good that they get the chance of life, which they might not have had before being rescued. Well done for stopping for the hedgehog in your other video, something I always do👍 Another job I used to do involved night patrols so would often come across hedgehogs in the roads. I always stopped to move them. After checking they weren't drunk and disorderly 😁 Full respect to you Joel for a grand job with this little fella.👍

[@wildlifewithyash10m93]

Hi 😀👍👍

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Hi Yash - thank you - I hope you and your family are doing well - best wishes to you all, Joel

[@UkAmphibians]

Amazing this joel your a life saver these tadpoles won’t forget you saved their life’s so when they grow up and come back as frogs to breed you will be blessed with plenty more frogspawn in years to come 🐸💚🐸

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

I hope Clive Laughing Man sees this - as soon as I was sitting there the day before and saw the settled water I thought of him and his experience last year, saving all that spawn from the area close to that new build site. So that's what prompted me to take a closer look, must admit I was expecting that amount though! It's all sitting in my pond at the moment, along with the pretty large amount that was already there - when I emptied them out I then saw a newt surface, so safety in numbers ;) Best wishes, have a great weekend - Joel

[@UkAmphibians]

@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton I’m in contact with Clive I’ll send him a message yes I remember his video last year where he saved the frogspawn he will definitely love your video when he sees it. I always raise a few clumps of spawn in buckets which helps better survival rates for the tadpoles and they don’t get eaten by the newts then once the tadpoles are large enough and have their back legs I put them back in the pond which gives them a better chance from predators 🐸💚🐸

[@jackhigham1918]

This year I rescued some frogspawn from my neighbours garden after it was found in a small puddle caused by some recent floods. I think that it could be the spawn of frogs that used to spawn in a pond nearby that I believe has been filled in since last year. It is a shame that such important habitats are being destroyed by our progressing need for housing. Luckily I managed to rescue the clump and I now have it in a large plant pot that happened to be filled with rainwater. I put in a couple of rocks and I will add some netting to discourage birds and other mammals from eating them. I'm not going to put any into my current pond because I don't want the ecosystem to become unbalanced (there is already some spawn in my pond) so I will try and raise them to become frogs and then release them into my garden. I heard that spinach is a good food for them, so I have sown some spinach seeds ready for the tadpoles. Also, another great channel for this sort of stuff is Greg's Wildlife, the frog watch episodes are great for those who would like to learn how to take care of tadpoles. I'm glad that you were able to help this frogspawn and I hope that it is successful! 👍

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Hi Jack :) Great that you were able to rescue this and completely sensible to keep it out of your own pond if there is spawn there already. Yes, spinach is great - I've used the frozen stuff before, the finely chopped spinach and lettuce and even finely chopped broccoli and I've even seen specific tadpole food being sold in the UK. I've been speaking to Greg recently and we're going to try to meet up as I remember being transfixed by his frog watch episodes and he's living quite close to where I'll be working in a few months, a prime opportunity to thank him in person for his work :) Best wishes - Joel

[@carolhall1757]

Love that your Mum like me has a barrel pond and that you’re taking her some spawn. I am protecting mine by upturning an old metal hanging basket so that my little resident starlings don’t think yummy caviar for breakfast. They gobbled up my tadpoles in a tiny ground level pond that I had some years ago, so doing my best to protect this years spawn. Would love to see your Mums pond, keep up the good work.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Great idea re the upturned basket Carol! I'll try to get some footage of mum's barrel, it has a fair few stones in it so allow creatures to exit so once these tadpoles reach froglet stage they'll be able to exit and go off exploring around the garden :) Best wishes - Joel

[@davidcobb8422]

Hi Joel another great video carrying on (Brilliant).

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you David, I hope you're doing well and have a good weekend, I'll be in touch again real soon :) Best wishes - Joel

[@tiagosnoddy738]

Absaloutly loved the video and its a great message to spread

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much, I know you are doing so much in your own garden to help the wildlife, brilliant work - best wishes, Joel

[@andy-the-gardener]

temporary ponds can be quite good for frogs and newt breeding sites as there are fewer predators. obviously if it always dries out its no good, but if it sometimes remains long enough for larval development to complete, it can be really productive. fish in particular are killed off by the drying out of the pond, but the drying will also kill dragonfly larvae etc making tadpole survival rates much higher than in superficially more attractive permanent ponds which are full of established predators. great crested newts in particular, cannot breed in ponds with fish like carp as the larvae live in the water column and are easily predated. frogs and newts are quite long lived so young don't have to be produced in a temporary pond every year for it to be a viable breeding site. i think i read somewhere that the common frogs latin name (Rana temporaria) derives from its habit of breeding in temporary pools so such places are what this species evolved to breed in. theres a site in my local park that always has frogspawn in it. it dried up this year sadly so all the taddies have been killed. but maybe next year they will thrive. an additional observation about great crested newts. its often said they don't breed in garden ponds but this is untrue. i have a few in my pond every year and they seem happy enough and produce a few larvae. they breed as long as there is open water for the larvae to swim and there are no fish. they grow surprisingly large, about the size of a smooth newt, and look like a small axolotl. when they turn into baby crested newts they are about half as long as the adult and are very cute.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Great to read this Andy, thank you - and well done on attracting those very special Great Crested newts :) Best wishes, Joel

[@phedrob3735]

Several years ago, I was working away and my Brother mowed my lawn now and again. Unbeknown to me, he emptied the grass cuttings into plastic sacks which he then emptied into a pile at the base of an apple tree. For some strange reason he thought it was ok to lay the sacks down and cover them with even more grass cuttings. When I came home in the late spring of the following year the lawn had grown quite high. My first thought was to rake the lawn. I took one stroke with the rake and two baby frogs jumped up. I abandoned any further work as there were literally hundreds of baby frogs in the long grass. It seems my brother had inadvertently created a safe environment for the frog spawn which developed into tadpoles and the frogs. I just left the grass alone that Summer not attempting to mow until early Autumn by which time the frogs had dispersed

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Hey Rob - how fortunate that you have this brother! This was so good to read and just goes to confirm that additional habitat to a pond is vital in making that eco-system work - don't get me wrong, ponds are fantastic but with the additional habitat you speak of, gardens can be wonderful habitats year round :) Best wishes to you, and your brother (!) - Joel

[@zeez9053]

Great advice 👍🇬🇧

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you - glad this was helpful, I do hope it encourages people to look closer at things and see if there's anything in need of help. It's no doubt the reason so much spawn is laid due to predation and choosing less than viable sites (!) but hopefully a fair few frogs will be developing from this and continuing the population :) Best wishes - Joel

[@geeker211]

Wonderful! Great work, Joel!

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thank you, very much :) Hope you've had a good weekend! Best wishes - Joel

[@melissamybubbles6139]

That's super cool. Thank you.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

You are very welcome :) Really appreciate your support - best wishes, Joel

[@debbiehenri345]

I gathered up some frog spawn a week ago - after a frog laid it on the very edge of my fast flowing stream, which not only dries out quickly in good weather, it feeds into a river just a few miles from the sea. A couple of years ago I found spawn on a moss-covered tree stump. I'd never seen it out of water and thought that a predator must have dumped it there. Never occurred to me that a frog might have just laid it there in the first place.

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

It's amazing the places you find spawn isn't it?! As Tracey Pye said and also my friend who walks a lot in the woods, it's even in tyre tracks and you wonder how this spawn is ever successful, with people, dogs walking over it and then of course it drying out before they're fully formed... another amazing part of nature :) Best wishes - Joel

[@andrewmaclean7941]

Question, if newts love to eat frogspawn, why are there not loads of newts in that place eating it?

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Good question Andrew, although you probably know already that it's mainly spring time that frogs and newts are in abundance in water bodies/ponds as they use these to breed and then disperse into the adjacent habitat so I'm not so sure they'd be attracted to this very shallow water area, frogs on the other hand seem to make the most of any damp space, just proving how desperately in need of ponds they are :) Best wishes - Joel

[@helenhawkins4054]

The heron got my frog spawn last year . I wonder if I could make some form of protection over the area?🤔

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Uh oh... if there's a pond-crime being committed it's usually a heron! ;) Seriously though, you could "net off" an area, make a small frame with some mesh and corral them into there, although of course Herons do eat frogs too, you can certainly help a few more survive to adult-hood. This is one of the reasons that spawn is so abundant and it such high numbers, the more laid the more chance of survival :) Best wishes, Joel

[@markhunter2244]

Another great rescue story, it’s such a pity that frogs aren’t a bit more picky where they spawn 🐝

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Thanks Mark. You're right, I remember a client showing me some in an old ice cream container that had been left in the garden with pegs, they'd made use of circa 1 inch of water before she transferred it to her pond :) Best wishes, Joel

[@joannahandley7367]

My new pond has filled up with rainwater over the winter and excitement! I've just discovered that a load of frogspawn has be laid in it. I’m now worried about what the tadpoles are going to eat because as yet there is no vegetation in the pond at all. It’s too early still to buy pond plants so is there anything I can do to feed them with in the meantime?

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

Hi Joanna - great news re the frogspawn! It's not long before the pond plants will be ready in our store, they just need to all wake up and start doing what they do best! In the meantime though tadpoles will eat greens including lettuce (not cos or iceberg), broccoli, or shredded spinach, you can buy this frozen in most supermarkets, it's the fine stuff you want, not the whole leaf spinach - hope this helps - keep me updated! Best wishes - Joel

[@joannahandley7367]

Thanks so much Joel and I’m sure you’ll let us know when the pond plants are ready

[@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton]

@@joannahandley7367 You're very welcome Joanna and I will indeed alert everyone when these vital plants are awake :) Best wishes - Joel