Wednesday 14 March 2012

Frog Central

A few weeks back Parsley and I were admiring Sam's (my neighbour) pond. It was teeming with frogs. Must have been upward of 20 +. Our pond had a measly three in there, looking the dudes and dudettes who didn't get invited to the party, or some unsavoury section of society mulling over saucy things to do. The sun was beaming down on their little amphibian faces, forty gleaming orb eyes looking at us. I was jealous as hell. So imagine my unfettered amazement and joy when I went down the garden last Sunday and saw a slew of frogs bouncing about in our pond - hard as a cholo mobile. I actually started laughing. With a bit more inspection I saw mad clusters of frogspawn. Out of every 2000 eggs laid, only six frogs will reach maturity. That's a pretty brutal stat right there. Nonetheless I was over the moon as was the family Wakefield who paid me a visit in the morning. It was a pleasure to see my Dad and the Boneman staring into the pond as I have been wont to do many a time. My little, beloved nephew Joseph did a very good impersonation of their croaks and ribbits.

I just can't wait for the tadpoles. I have ludicrous primary school memories of tadders swarming about like furious apostrophes or commas in a communal tub. And just now I've read, 'Tadpoles can regenerate lost limbs though grown frogs cannot!' Does anyone have any thiouracil going spare? We could make some very old tadpoles by blocking the action of their thyroid hormones! But that would be just plain cruel n'est pas?

Watch this space for more reports from Frog Central.

Got any Welsh rarebit?

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