It's started

[Kevin Byrnes]

I work outside and so have the chance to watch the season develop, here are a few pics taken with my phone as I walk around.
1st R temporaria spawn, 5/2/13


1st tadpoles..21/2/13


On 5/3/13 I was sent south for a weeks work and decided to call into an Adder site as I was passing, I saw but failed to photograph my first 2013 Adder but did see a Slow worm basking and what I think is the shed skin of a Grass snake.

[Bobby Bok]

Interesting slow worm, a lot of black spots it seems... Here in the Netherlands we had two days of nice weather but the frost and snow is coming, again

[Niklas Ban]

You are lucky kevin! Bobby same here ...

[Paul Lambourne]

Kevin

Nice finds... no frog spawn in my area so far.. however toads are going mad.. hundreds in my village pond.. extremely loud

cheers Paul

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Always great to see things start off... Just tonight, toad, frog and newt migration seems to have started for real, although temps will indeed drop drastically by Monday. The 'mandering I did just now will go in another thread

[Matthijs Hollanders]

Temporaria has started in the south. Saw about a 100 with half in amplexus and the first egg mass. Alpine newts are in the water, some Salamandra were seen (they're not extirpated yet from Hoeland!), Lacerta and Vipera were basking earlier this week. Sneak peek until another winter punishment starting tomorrow...

[GertJan Verspui]

I went out last night, temperatures were around 10'C with a little bit of rain.

Pelophylax kl. esculentus

Rana arvalis

Bufo bufo

Rana arvalis

Rana arvalis

Lissotriton vulgaris

[Paul Lambourne]

Chaps,

Last night, instead of drinking, clubbing and horizontal refreshment, I spent my Friday evening helping hundreds of toads cross a road to their spawning pond.. nothing unusual there. however unusually for the first time, at this site hundreds of lissotriton vulgaris and helveticus were found stranded in the road...

The pond has always supported good colonies of helveticus, vulgaris, bufo and temporaria. However only bufo has migrated outside of the wooded surround of the pond, into the urban area.

The UK suffered torrential rain yesterday, and I had to move over 100 assorted lissotrion that had started displaying/breeding in shallow puddles on the pavement and road adjacent to the woods.

Does anybody now the dispersal distence from the breeding site for lissotriton? I know bufo can be found 2k away from their breeding sites.

The greatest distence from the pond,into the tarmacced urban area that newts were found was 500m.. this seems a very great distence from suitable habitat..

Anybody have similar expirience?

I feel I now have top Karma as I rescued upward of 300 toads and 100 newts..

Kind regards

Paul

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Blab (1986) has them down for 400m.

[Dominik Hauser]

For me the season has finally also started now, after two weeks work only, with no time to go out at the first sunny days. First alpestris in the garden pond, where still is an ice shield on most parts, also first temporaria on the way on the streets nearby was told me yesterday and in the Württembergisch part of the Allgäu there was the first berus out. Hope the cold weather next week will not last too long.
Wish you all a good season!

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