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LookWild: frogspawn and fungi in Exmoor National Park

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Despite this month’s snow and cold, the first signs of spring are stirring in Exmoor National Park. Patrick Watts-Mabbott provides a snapshot of the landscape. 

As I’m writing this in early January, the landscape of Exmoor National Park is frozen and many schools are closed. Most ponds are frozen, but here and there, where springs bring warmer water to the surface, there is still liquid. In one of these pools near the National Park there is the first observation of frogspawn this year. Whether or not they will survive the rest of the winter’s frosts is yet to be seen!

If you find some frogspawn, snap a photo and upload it to iNaturalist, a brilliant citizen science project that helps contribute to our data and knowledge of wildlife and habitat health across the UK. If you can, update the lifestage to egg. This enables land managers to see where the important ponds are that are being used by frogs so their habitat can be looked after.  So far we have one frogspawn observation this year; the rest should appear here as they get made. As the year goes on we should get a list of sites across the country where frogspawn can be found.

The first frogspawn has been spotted near Exmoor National Park. Photo: Patrick Watts-Mabbott
The first frogspawn has been spotted near Exmoor National Park. Photo: Patrick Watts-Mabbott

As we look forward to spring we’ll be keeping an eye out for more frogspawn and adding the observations to iNaturalist. I have spent much of this winter looking through last years iNaturalist observations for waxcap fungi and wildflowers, making sure they are as accurate as can be and looking for new sites that may have been missed before.

Waxcap fungi grow in unimproved grassland. Ground compaction, artificial fertilisers, and reseeding all negatively impact these globally rare fungi.

A brightly-coloured waxcap fungi. Photo: Patrick Watts-Mabbott
A brightly-coloured waxcap fungi. Photo: Patrick Watts-Mabbott

Last autumn we trained a group of local volunteers to go out and search for these brightly coloured mushrooms. Knowledge of their exact positions will help inform future wildflower and tree planting and grazing schemes to make sure we can make the best of all our natural resources.

If you want to help, get out and explore our National Parks, and for that matter any wild spaces near where you live. So download the iNaturalist app and start exploring!

Patrick Watts-Mabbott is Volunteer and Outreach Officer for the Exmoor National Park Authority.