March is the month for frog hunting, they can be seen and heard in ponds around the country with the male frogs the first to move to ponds to wait for the females to arrive. The males call to attract them and once the females have arrived the male will cling onto the female, wrapping around her with his fore limbs, using special ‘nuptual pads’ for extra grip. The female lays her spawn into the pond , the eggs of which are then immediately fertilised by the male. In March a glance into a pond may reward you with views of male and female frogs as well as developing frogspawn.
What has this got to do with churchyards and cemeteries? Very few burial grounds have ponds and they are rarely suitable places to install one, apart perhaps from a mini-pond in a Belfast sink or similar. They are however important places for amphibians generally, including frogs. Frogs move to ponds to spawn in the spring but spend much of the rest of their time on land and burial grounds provide excellent habitat for them. They can travel up to 500m away from a pond and will live terrestrially, feeding on slugs, snails and worms as well as catching flies or small moths with their sticky tongues. Frogs will hunt for food in grassland, garden areas, woodland and amongst grass tussocks and scrub. Many burial grounds contain some or all of these habitats in close proximity to each other, a mosaic of different places providing food and shelter depending on the time of year and the weather. Frogs have damp permeable skin and so cannot tolerate many of the chemicals that are used in gardens and farmland. Churchyards and cemeteries tend to be chemical free which also means they can be full of delicious invertebrates. The colour of frogs can be affected by their surroundings and you might find red or even yellow frogs in some places.
So, you will not find frogs in your local churchyard or cemetery in March, but look in garden ponds surrounding a burial ground and you may find a great many who come to the pond to breed then return for most of the year. Churchyards and cemeteries contain lots of frog-sized spaces, cracks and crevices in the ground, monuments such as chest tombs with gaps and holes or spaces beneath the roots of old trees. Many of these will be used by frogs for overwintering as are churchyard walls, particularly drystone ones. You can help frogs, as well as other amphibians, by making more habitat for them. How about having some areas of summer meadow or tussocky, rough places round the back and out of sight. Could you pile up some deadwood in a shaded area. A compost heap is also a favourite. Both of these will gentle rot down providing excellent shelter with a larder attached!
All the best,
Harriet Carty
Diocesan Churchyard Environmental Advisor
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