Sunday, 22 January 2012

Frog, Hopper

Young common frog, Rana temporaria. One of many heading towards the lake. Hayes Street Farm, 13 June 2011.
Young common frog, Rana temporaria, or toad, Bufo bufo.  Hayes Street Farm, 13 June 2011.
Two more photos from last spring. In June, I was walking through Hayes Street Farm past the lake which makes up a trout farm, and saw a whole crowd of these youngsters heading through the grass in the direction of the lake. It's likely that they came from spawn deposited in a nearby ditch.

A month earlier, on a reptile walk led by the Bromley rangers, I had seen the creature below; it's a Froghopper. It's one of a group of true bugs (insects with sucking mouthparts) whose young live in froth deposited on green plants, a phenomenon known as cuckoo-spit. I forgot about this one when I was making up my recent series of posts on bugs!

The top photo was taken with my Canon EOS 450D and 100mm macro lens; the bottom one with my Ixus 100.

Froghopper, Cercopis vulnerata, on bracken on a dry meadow. Keston Common, 14 May 2011.
Froghopper, Cercopis vulnerata, on bracken on a dry meadow.  Keston Common, 14 May 2011.
Posted by Bill Welch at 05:00
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3 comments:

  1. teegee22 January 2012 at 08:37

    On both the lighting is marvelous, and of course so are the frog and the beetle.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6 February 2012 at 08:24

    I think that the amphibian is a common toad Bufo Bufo?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bill Welch6 February 2012 at 08:36

      That could be right. I'm not really familiar with what they look like when young. If so, I have never seen so many toads in one place! Which is why I thought they were frogs.

      Delete

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