PEOPLE HAVE BEEN spotting frog spawn all over the country this week and that means it is now officially spring.

Billy Flynn, an ecologist for the Irish Wildlife Trust, told TheJournal.ie that spawning usually begins in Ireland once the weather starts to get a bit milder.

The common frog, which is the only species we have in Ireland, is actually considered a “threatened species” by the trust as their wetlands habitat is at risk.

“There’s been lots of habitat loss in Ireland, lots of wetlands have gone, mostly though agricultural improvement and the development and expansion of towns,” Flynn explained.

Though frog spawn is something that can be a source of nostalgia for people, particularly from rural areas, who used to collect some of it as children and raise a couple of frogs in a bucket or puddle, the ecologist strongly discourages this.

It is, in fact, illegal to collect frog spawn – unless you are a teacher and it is for educational purposes.

If the illegal aspect of it isn’t enough of a deterrent, Flynn stressed that this could have a massively damaging effect on the frog population in Ireland.

“Please don’t touch it, it’s terribly vulnerable stuff. They produce masses and masses of eggs but that’s because many of them will die. This is something that depends on our help and depends on not interferring in any way and to leave them alone as much as possible.”

If people really want to get involved, he suggests sending information about any frog spawn or just general frog sightings to the Irish Peatland Conservations Council for their national survey.

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