Frogs congregate to breed at this time of year
Unlike many other countries, we have only one species of frog in Ireland so since it cannot be confused with other species, it is known to us simply as ‘ the frog’ without any need to give it its full, global-context title of the European Common Frog.
Frogs congregate in large numbers when they come together to breed at this time of year but outside of the present annual social event, they live a pretty solitary life.
They need water to breed in and while they are often portrayed as being aquatic animals, they are land animals for most of the year. As land animals they do need moisture so they can be found scattered over a wide area in damp fields, long grass and the margins of standing water.
Frogs have poorly-developed lungs and to compensate for that they can breathe through the lining of the mouths and through their skin. To absorb oxygen, the skin must be moist hence the need to live in damp areas where there is a low risk of drying out.
In our mild winter climate, frogs don’t hibernate fully. In harsh weather between October and January, they hide away under boulders, logs, piles of leaf litter and in compost heaps and become active during mild spells only. If the weather becomes really severe, they protect themselves by burying their bodies in the mud at the bottoms of ponds and sit out severe conditions while breathing through their skins.
As they lie motionless, their greatly reduced activity requires less oxygen and since ice floats on water their hibernation pond may freeze over on top but be quite snug in the insulating mud at depth.
When the worst of winter is over, frogs respond in synchrony to some natural cue to abandon their partial-hibernation and emerge to congregate at their local breeding site. They used to emerge in February and March but now with climate change they answer the call as early as mid-January in the south with a wave of progression northwards as spring advances.
The difference in sexes may not be immediately obvious but males are usually smaller in size and lighter in colour than females; females tend to be bigger, browner and heavy with spawn. Breeding males also croak loudly, have a white throatpatch and ‘nuptial pads’, hard swellings on the first digits of the forelegs that they use to hold on to females during ‘amplexus’, their mating embrace.