Well, I was almost too late! Cleaning the Frog Pond is always something I try to do in the early spring. Most of the time, the chore is done while it is still quite chilly even though I get rather wet. Mucking around in knee deep water is a must if the water hyacinths are to be thinned. Those things will clog up a pond rather quickly so each year, I pull out all but about a dozen or so. That means two hundred make their way to the compost bin. Hyacinths make excellent fertilizer so they do not go to waste. That cleaning, however, is quite the undertaking and this spring, it has been delayed several times. Last night, hundreds of toads and frogs could be heard raising their voices in their nightly serenade and love was being shared in the back yard. The cacophony gave me a bit of a sinking feeling. I was too late.
This morning as soon as other chores were completed, it was time to get down and dirty with the pond. The task was made even more difficult due to the fact that several clusters of toad eggs were already to be found woven in the roots of the water lilies. This made it difficult to get the water hyacinths free and clear. Several times, a decision had to be made. Either a few eggs had to be sacrificed or masses of water plants had to stay. I did the best I could to save each strand.
There was clearly no draining the entire pond as this would have damaged the eggs already there. Half of the water was drained while the pond was refilling. Hopefully, this did not disturb the eggs and the future toads and frogs will be happy with their somewhat cleaner abode. I, on the other hand, appreciated the warm, sunny day as I was just about soaked to the skin with yucky pond water! Oh, the things I do for the critters around this place!
The sun was shining, a slight breeze was blowing and I was knee deep in the Frog Pond! Yep, it is that time of year again where the little pond needs a good cleaning. There is not much better way to do this than just wade in and start pulling out the excess water hyacinths, branches and wads of leaves that have accumulated over the winter. The chore is not one that I relish other than the fact that I get to be "up close and personal" with the critters that live in the pond. Some make me smile while others can give me the heebie-jeebies. I am usually ok with the larger critters that live in the murky waters but those squiggly larvae of assorted bugs sometimes get to me and there are a ton of those swimming about beneath the water lilies and hyacinths.
This afternoon, I found hundreds of tadpoles in different stages of morph. While I tried to save each tadpole that I found, it was difficult to do so as I pulled out the huge wads of hyacinths. It seems that the roots are the perfect hiding places for the little buggers. Some of the tadpoles were quickly morphing into froglets. It was strange to see how quickly they could change when it was a necessity. Back on the farm, during a drought, the large pond would start to dwindle. By the time the pond became a mere puddle, the tadpoles were quickly morphing out of necessity. Had they not been ready to grow those legs, they would have perished in the hot sun. It was the same here, today. As I tossed the hyacinths up on the bank, some of the larger tadpoles almost immediately "sprouted" their little legs. With these immature limbs they were able to push themselves back into the water of the pond (with a little help from me!) This is one of the few times that I have been without the camera. It probably would not have been a good idea to be out in the middle of the little pond with a non-waterproof camera. The photographs were taken after the cleaning was completed.
The pond has been cleared of the clogging hyacinths just in time for another round of egg-laying. The bullfrogs have already done their thing as have the toads. This week will see the little tree frogs being quite busy. Its a good thing I like frogs!
