Striding out across Marymead with the dogs the other week I did a double take…‘No, surely not.’ I exclaimed ‘It can’t be!’ ‘This most certainly is a first.’
The dogs instantly wheeled back from their beginning-of-a-walk harum-scarum charge into the blue yonder, surprised by my exclamations and to investigate the cause of them.
There, in a glutinous, glistening mass was a large spewed out excrescent of frog spawn! Disbelieving I thought I must be mistaken and it was most probably a pool of slime mould. But after I examined it, touched it, prodded it I was convinced it was frog spawn – though devoid of its black pin-prick nuclei. The dogs, disappointed in my apparent fascination for a lump of bland jelly-like substance, went back to the much more exciting sport of scent tracking.
Arriving back at the farmhouse I showed Robert the photos I’d taken and waited for his thoughts. Yes, he agreed, it looked very like frog spawn.
“But isn’t that impossibly early?” I asked “I know I find it January, but never, ever in November. And where’s the nuclei?”
Robert’s explanation was that it had most probably come from frog killed and opened by a predator, perhaps a heron, with the immature spawn emptying out and expanding in the wet conditions.
Interesting – but probably not officially a first.
18 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 30, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Catherine Sherman
You can make even frog spawn jelly look lovely!
December 1, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Mopsa
I found my first primrose last week, and there are new fledglings just about feathered enough, I hope, to survive the winter ahead. Hard Hattie however, is hibernating nicely, just like a good tortoise should.
December 1, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Maggie
Hi Paula,
I’m new to your blog – found it just a day or so ago. I was intending to ‘lurk’, but your post has brought me out in the open. Last year, we found something rather similar in one of our recently mown fields – also in November. I have no idea what it was, and the closest description I can give is that it looked like translucent silicone sealant and rather more dried up than your pic. Ours had some kind of egg mass – slimy and like a mini blackberry! It was separate from the jelly though. I showed the picture to a couple of other ecologists, but no-one could enlighten me. I wonder if it’s the same thing or not – I’ll put a pic on my blog – perhaps you’d have a look and see? The post is at http://www.wheatlandfarm.co.uk/blogmysteryjelly.html
December 2, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Fiona P
Hi Paula,
I,too, found something similar walking around our field the other day.I’ve also had daffodils flowering for about two weeks,I checked my diary for last year,we had them in December last year,too!
December 2, 2008 at 5:01 pm
tim relf
… or global warming?
December 2, 2008 at 10:19 pm
paula
You’re too kind Cathy!
December 2, 2008 at 10:21 pm
paula
It just ain’t right mopsa. I’m so glad about Hard Hattie though – look forward to seeing her in the spring…
December 2, 2008 at 10:30 pm
paula
Maggie, I’m so glad you decided to reveal yourself – and you’re not too far away either!
I’ve had a good look at your weird photo (can you email me a larger one?). Robert’s had a good look too.
No, at the moment we’re not at all sure, though it reminds Robert of something in the back of his mind (hence the larger image) he thinks could be to do with parasites, a discharge from a mammal. Will carry on rummaging in our heads, books and internet…
December 2, 2008 at 10:34 pm
paula
This is getting interesting Fiona – I’m going to have to find out exactly what it is. I just have to find another clump of the stuff!
And daffodils? Wow!
December 2, 2008 at 10:35 pm
paula
Yes, that’s a possibility too Tim. And it’s good to hear from you, thanks for the visit!
December 3, 2008 at 5:07 am
heidi
Whacky! They do look like egg masses, but no little black dots..
I know that frogs are affected by all the toxins out there, is possible some made the jelly but not the DNA bit due to environmental gunk messing with their reproductive plumbing?
-Or is it the Blob?;)
It’s December here, feels like May. No snow on the mountains, crickets still chirping merrily in the garden, roses blooming, and we have had several bug hatches, swarms of little gnat like flyers…It’s in the 50’s -60’s=- Went jogging in shorts and a t-shirt, usually I would need a jacket this time of year.
What gives?
December 3, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Maggie
Hello again Paula,
don’t have your email – but would be happy to send you a bigger pic of what we found. Drop me a line if you like. Taking a closer look at your 2nd image, it looks to me like the black ‘eggs’ that I found can perhaps be seen under the jelly in yours. In the centre at the bottom and in the top left there is a very dark bit that looks like it might be the same?
December 4, 2008 at 9:40 am
paula
Heidi I think I’ll go for the weird and wonderful, the fanciful and unexplained – it’s definitely ‘the blob’!
We actually haven’t been having unseasonable warm weather – just huge changes in less than 24 hours, from below freezing to wet, windy and mild, in the blink of an eye.
December 4, 2008 at 9:45 am
paula
Maggie hi – left my email on your blog.
Unfortunately I can’t go and look at the jelly to see if the ‘eggs’ are there – ’tis all gone! I shall keep my eyes out for more.
Will email you with my address.
December 4, 2008 at 9:53 am
paula
Oh, forgot to say that I’ve found various vaginal plugs and mucus from domesticated and wild ruminants; generally a thicker consistency and creamier in colour, though not quite as formed as the one in your photo. I’ve also found rectal mucus, usually attached to small fragments of faeces – it’s this, I think it’s this that’s jogging some memory in Robert’s mind – connected with parasites.
December 7, 2008 at 1:05 pm
mary
I thought we had seen the end of Mr Blobby.
This is a page from the BBC website about more finds of this jelly-like substance. Many views on what it is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/outdoors/articles/jelly/
December 8, 2008 at 7:08 pm
paula
He seems to have made a bit of a comeback by the looks of things!
Thanks for the link Mary, really interesting – I’ve only had time just to spin through at them, but intriguing! Can’t wait to sift through a bit more.
January 9, 2013 at 9:08 am
Vile Jelly | Rural Rides
[…] to my inn, I consulted what material I could on the matter, and found the following two links (see here and here), which give some interesting suggestions. I incline to the idea of the female frog eaten […]