Our Wildlife Pond… a great Success
One of our projects at the Dublin vegetable garden , to create a habitat for frogs and other pond creatures has been very successful.
We estimated we had about one hundred happy tadpoles in our pond which we were feeding on cat food (salmon) once they had developed tiny legs and needed some meat to complement their previously vegetarian diet.
The tadpoles were growing fast and it was fascinating to watch them going through the metamorphosis and surely exhilarating to spot the first tiny froglet! Its difficult to make out the tadpoles in the picture, but there are four of them feeding off a chunk of catfood. Their favoutite is Salmon !
How many tadpoles made it to become frogs we don’t know as the froglets only stay in the pond for a few days and then hop off to spend most of their time on land until they return to mate, but we are estimating 60 or more.
Frogs are a declining species and our project has helped to spread the frog population to the Crumlin area. From the organic gardeners’ point of view frogs are also a very welcome sight as they feed on slugs!
Our little pond has also become a habitat for water skimmer, water beetles and lots of other tiny pond organisms.
One side of the pond is surrounded by a beautiful wildflower meadow that attracts bees, bumble bees, butterflies and ladybirds all which are also declining.
A few of our fellow allotment-holders at the Pearse College allotments have been inspired by the sight of our wildflowers and pond, and want to start their own, pond and wildflower meadow !
The photos are amazing. Who is the photographer? Great Blog.