SWCAMBORNE

The koi died in Koimageddon a year or two ago. The pond is now an amphibian sanctuary.  Home to a few dozen Water Lilies, a few gold fish, guppies, lots of polliwogs and a nightly frog concert.

Historical Pond Stories and Photos here

Life is Good

Yesterday Nurit excitedly called me to the back window.  “He’s back!”  Sure enough a Great Blue Heron had stopped by the pond to investigate.

Unfortunately because of Koimageddon the pickings are slim, unless you like frog legs.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

I am thankful that I can live in beautiful Southern California

with the resources to have an urban lifestyle and a rural ecosystem. 

Life is Good!

Well a frog.  At least one.  Back in July I got some pictures of thousands of tadpoles in the pond.  Yesterday, while we were winterizing the pond, Lilli saw a small frog sitting on a lily pad.  We got excited and we got pictures.

To put it in perspective here it is with a ruler:

About 1 and a half inches

This probably would have happened if there hadn’t been Koimegeddon (man induced massive Koi death) which at the time I saw as an unmitigated disaster.

The pond went bad in the last week or so.  Even with no fish we had an algae bloom which is pretty ugly and most of the tadpoles have vanished.  I don’t think they’re hiding.

Reuben my “non-executive assistant” and I scooped out two buckets of crap and replanted and fed all of the lilies.  We’ll see if it works in a week or so.

A new photo of the tadpoles in the pond shows a dramatic growth in their size and an equal and opposite decrease in their numbers.

July 24, 2011

July 20, 2011

To be fair some of the number decrease might be the result of dispersion.  You can use the jar impression to judge the growth of the Tadpoles.

Semantic aside:  Tadpoles and Polliwogs are two names for the frog phase between spawn and frog.  Tadpole is more commonly used in the USA and polliwog is more common in the UK.  The Spanish word in Mexico is renacuajo.

The frog eggs have definitely hatched so I caught a Ball Jar full of them and took a picture.

As you can see they are tiny and there are lots.  This was one scoop with the tiny net.  This is a top view. Unfortunately I don’t really know how to take pictures of things in jars….yet.

More Pond Blogs

Lily Pond Photos on Flickr

Those frog eggs that I showed in last weeks pond post are now tadpoles.

Lillian discovered them over the weekend and found a link to a small website that explains lots about the Bull Frog life cycle.  There are now thousands of tiny tadpoles in the pond.  It will be very interesting to see how many of them survive to become frogs.  We might be eating frog legs soon.  Are they Kosher?

The frog has laid eggs, spawned*, in the pond.  We know she spawned in the swimming pool a few month ago but this is the first time we have seen frog eggs in the pond.

Koimageddon**: The death of the Koi last month was essential to this remarkable event.  Previously even if the frog had laid eggs in the pond the Koi would have eaten them.  What we don’t know is whether the eggs were fertilized.  Stay tuned.

* Spawn is a noun meaning fish and amphibian eggs that have been laid and a verb that means to lay those eggs.  The derivative meaning is to give birth to something.  As in: “He spawned a wave of derivative products.”

** Koimageddon is taken from “Carmageddon” the closing of one of the major freeways in the LA area this weekend.

Last Friday evening I left the hose running into my pond and by morning all of the fish were dead.  No they didn’t drown.  They were poisoned by the Chloramine in the tap water.

RIP Fish

It was the Chernobyl disaster of my pond.  Fortunately I had some mosquito fish in the small fountain and the frog survived so there will be some fauna continuity.  The frog probably survived because he has been adjusting to chemicals by taking nightly swims in the pool.

The plan now is to restart the pond with local fish and more lilies.  It should be beautiful, environmentally sound and much easier to take care of.

This Lily flowered two days after the fish disaster

Stay Tuned  The Lily Pond Album on Flickr

The frog in my pond is rarely seen.  We hear him sometimes, croaking or plopping, but sightings are rare.  Maybe once a year.  So imagine my surprise when I heard a plop in the swimming pool filter basket.  I looked in and saw the frog.  He was surprised himself and probably terrified he jumped out of the basket and swam to the bottom of the pool.   I took this picture

and them used the skimmer net to scoop him back into the pond.  At the end of the ordeal he was barely moving but twenty minutes later he had gone back into hiding.  We have no idea how long he was in the swimming pool or even if he is a he.  Lillian gave him the name Randolph Meyer and it has stuck.

Randolph is bigger than an iPhone but smaller than an iPad.  About the size of a large sunglasses case.

Lesson:  A pool is not a pond.  Or?