So for a change lets look to a wider view of the county as a whole through the eyes of my friend and colleague Mike Russell, a senior manager of the Sussex Wildlife Trust. This month he has been writing about the topical subject of frogs which, judging by the activity in our pond last week, we will have lots of spawn again this year.

Mike writes: "There are 4,000 species of frogs to be found around the world, but sadly, we in Britain have only one native - the common frog. Another species can be found in parts of Sussex. About a dozen marsh frogs from Hungary were released on the Romney Marshes in the 1920s and since then have spread west and north across the county. During spring you can hear the chorus of marsh frogs in a number of places such as Rye Harbour, Pevensey Levels and the Lewes Brooks, and there are now a few reports of them in West Sussex.

"A species of tree frog from Europe has also been introduced to southern Britain, but has not become established. More worrying is that, for the first time last year, the American bullfrog bred successfully in a pond on the Kent/Sussex border, requiring English Nature to take drastic action to try to remove all the tadpoles. It is of course illegal to introduce non-native species into the countryside, and should this species ever become established it could have a devastating effect on our wildlife."

Bullfrogs are somewhat larger than the common frog, and can be identified by a large round "ear" each side of the head.

As I write, the weather seems to have taken a turn for the better, so I hope we shall be on track in the wood next month. In the meanwhile, did you see in the news that domestic cats kill about 275 million other animals in Britain each year. This was in a report published by the Mammal Society, which added that each cat (population nine million) claims more than 30 victims a year. That's food for thought if you like!

John Hall © 2001