Dear Readers, there’s a reason that the old  proverb about not ‘casting a clout (item of clothing) till May is oot’ makes a lot of sense -after a few days of the weather feeling a bit warmer here in London, it froze over night. What about the frogs, though? They’d been starting to sing at the start of last week, but fortunately there isn’t any spawn yet.

Spawn above the surface of the pond can be damaged or even killed by frost – I remember when the ‘Beast From the East’ struck in late March/early April a few years ago, I ended up putting buckets over the blobs of spawn. The eggs that are under the surface of the water, where it isn’t frozen, will usually be fine.

Pond starting to thaw where it’s in the sun

Adult frogs will also usually be fine – after all, they’ve spent all winter in a state of torpor in the sediment at the bottom of the pond, and so they take a few days of ice in their stride (or maybe that should be ‘in their hop’. There is a phenomenon called ‘winterkill’, when the gases from decomposing vegetation at the bottom of the pond build up and can’t escape due to the ice, but this is more likely to happen in ‘natural’ pond that don’t have a worried human to look after them.

We’re always advised not to break the ice (the shock is bad for the critters) or to pour boiling water on it, though I have sometimes made a hole in the ice by resting a hot saucepan on it. Just don’t get distracted and leave it, or chances are you’ll have one saucepan at the bottom of the pond. Chemicals are obviously a no-no, and most people swear by leaving a football/tennis ball floating on the surface so that you can have a nice hole in the ice. I’ve always found that that only works if you have a smallish pond, where you can reach aforesaid ball from all angles.

Sunshine starting to touch the pond!

I am noticing that the duckweed is getting naughty again, so there’s something for me to think about next week while the windows are being done, and I’m desperate to get away from the noise and dirt. At least the weather forecast for next week is absolutely stunning, so there shouldn’t be any delays for that. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and the frogs!