lousmith

The sun will remove the chlorine in a matter of days, so is not a problem. The dissolved minerals (scale-forming) are however nutritious to plants and will tend to cause green algal growth, This in any case is almost unavoidable in the establishing phase of natural pond formation. If all else is good this should clear up when more advanced aquatic plants out compete the simpler forms and strip the water of its nutrients. You could always leave the tub in the garden to fill naturally, then get some burly helpers to lower it into your hole. Subsequent top-ups with tap water are ok if they total less than about 10% of the volume, the rain will naturally keep up the level most of the time.Good luck with it.

Hi Sue I would normally agree about transferring spawn, though as you don't have an ecosystem established to potentially upset I wouldn't worry. If the spawn was impaired in any way it simply won't develop. I have never witnessed any of the dreadful viral infections that some colonies of frogs are prone to in this area. I think increasing the distribution of breeding populations in cities is a good thing. I would say leave 'wild' populations alone, though generations of tadpole crazy youngsters did nothing to dent numbers really. Nearly all ponds are in fact man-made except in boggy, marshy places, so we have a long history of helping frogs breed. A pile of stones is a good way to go (or use bricks or old broken concrete slabs for stability under the surface and nice rocks above).You can run across the edge of the tub with them onto the land to landscape the edge. Frogs love to hide in the damp crevices. I've got a few pieces of york stone you could have which is ideal and get colonised with moss and algae pretty quickly. Was it you who had concerns about sun? Ideally a pond should be in full sun at least for a good part of the day, with aquatic plants providing the shade essential to keep water temperature down during summer, Oxygen levels go down when temp goes up, but most pond plants don't thrive in shady conditions. Lou.

Hi Sue, got a surplus of frogspawn if you want to start your frog nursery this year. I'm just on Barry, near st Anthony's As with any sort of tub pond it is important to make some kind of easy egress point for froglets ( or hapless small mammals } that need to get out to prevent drowning as the sides are usually smooth and slippery. Lou

Hi The Minkey, we're on Barry road, library end, so a bit of a number 12 from the Rye. I put in the pond myself as soon as I moved to the house, my old west Indian neighbour used to call me 'Frog Daddy' as I would spend so much time gazing into the water.It took a few years before there was a successful spawning. A large proportion of spawn is produced with white nucleii, very often all of one batch, which is non-viable. Last year I had a catastrophe as the water level started to drop alarmingly quickly after the tads had hatched. As you probably know a wholesale topping up with tap water ruins the balance in the ecosystem, so I elected to 'save' damn near all the tadpoles numbering probably 10000 into temporary tanks whilst I re-lined the pool. At that time there were 80 frogs and close to 20 newts in the primordial slime at the bottom. The whole process took less than a week and has established pretty quickly. Lazy me has postponed the final stages of landscaping, so some liner is on show on one side. touch wood it holds up pretty well now. let me know if you want to come. Lou

Hi The Minkey, its not a massive pond, maybe 8or 9 feet by 5 and a couple of feet deep. I've come to know what they like over the years, plenty of damp crevices etc, and they've been breeding for about a decade there. There are large adjoining gardens for them to forage in during the rest of the year. Sadly no toads this year, but loads of newts just waiting for the tadpole smorgasbord that awaits. You'd be more than welcome to come and witness the spectacle, I'm working from home so am around most days. Let me know and I'll pm you my details. Lou

Its been a bumper year for frogs and their spawn this year so far. It can always go tits-up if a squadron of dulwich ducks spots it whilst on a sortie. They can devastate an entire spawning in moments as they nearly did last year. There are probably close to two hundred frogs in my modest back garden pond exhibiting quite a prediliction for cuddling up in twosomes, threesomes, foursomes even fivesomes. The females get a rough time of it, one was even partially inside-outed through her mouth due to the over-enthusiasm of her many suitors, who remained oblivious to the fact that she was long dead, clinging on steadfastly. Its quite a spectacle, probably a week or so to go before its over for another year. I'll be separating some of the spawn from the main batch to prevent the all your eggs in one basket syndrome. If any parents have budding zoologists on their hands I would be willing to share some small amounts in the interests of education as long as they promise to return them to the wild or back to me when they develop. They don't require much, a bit of meat when they get big (cat food ) and some way of climbing out of the water when they grow their legs to stop them drowning. Let me know.

My daughter won't let me anywhere near her with a snot sucker :( Vicks on the feet sounds good, thanks for the tip millie42!

Top steer Mellors with the promo code.Taking my baby girl on Monday...can't wait Lou

Top advice, thanks P.R. I'll do that. Lou

Hi there, Are there any council leaseholders out there who are members of a local leaseholder association or RTA in the Barry Road neighbourhood, who are affected by Section 20 notices regarding refurbs to the 'decent homes standard'? Was wondering if anyone else was faced with a hefty estimate to replace windows with plastic replacements.

Hi, Horsebox, I lost a bunch of keys recently with a red leather heart-shaped fob and a BMW key/ remote on it.Quite a big bunch. Lost in East Dulwich. Do they fit the description? Louie.

Hi, I've just lost a bunch of keys to my life, lost whilst on a short bike ride from Barry road, down Etherow Street, Down Friern as far as goodrich, then back up Barry. Red leather heart with rivets will identify.Fairly big bunch. Lost about 3:00pm tuesday. Any finders?