Last night was mild and damp - just the sort of weather to tempt amphibians out of their winter hiding places.
I took a stroll in the Rivelin Valley this morning and checked several ponds where I've seen frogs spawning in previous years. Eventually I spotted about a dozen frogs in shallow water on the far side of Swallow Wheel Dam. I took a closer look and located a solitary blob of frogspawn: the first of the season!
When I got home I entered my record into the Nature's Calendar website. I was surprised to find that the site has records of spawn being found as early as December. Most of these records are from the far south-west of Cornwall where, according to The Independent, they've had an exceptionally warm winter.
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