a black dot
a jelly tot…..
a water-wriggler
a tail-jiggler…..
The poem (which incidentally is by Libby Houston) goes on like this:
a cool kicker
a sitting slicker
a panting puffer
a fly-snuffer
a high-hopper…..
a catalogue to make me - FROG
Did you notice - the poem takes us through the life cycle of a frog; starting out with the eggs (those black dots) that are laid in a kind of jelly. Then, as we have found out, the tadpole hatches; to start with it eats the ‘jelly’ of its egg…..
and its fat black body begins to change.
At first it has feathery gills on its head (these, as we have learnt, let the tadpole breathe the oxygen from the water). Later the gills will disappear and instead, lungs will grow inside the body.
In the picture you can see tadpoles feeding on algae and water weeds – but also a newt lurking in the background. Tadpoles are a newt’s food; a tadpole has lots of predators like the one in the photo.
Those tadpoles that survive all the dangers of growing up will go on to grow hopping legs and they will eventually lose their jiggly tails too. These tadpoles have not yet reached that stage. But you can bet we will be keeping a close eye on them over the next few weeks……
at the pond down the road.
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