Tadpole Rescue

May 11th (1) from Fagley Primary Forest School on Vimeo.

Over the past few weeks, the children have been watching the development of tadpoles in a small pond we pass on our way to the woods. They first noticed the frogspawn at the beginning of April  and have subsequently seen the tadpoles emerge and wriggle around the pond.
This week we have had some heavy rainfall causing the pond to overflow and some of the unlucky tadpoles to be washed down the lane into puddles.

The children decided to launch a rescue mission and using any discarded cups, packets and cartons they could find, set about scooping up the tadpoles and returning them to the pond.

Some of the children were also keen to take some of the hapless tadpoles back to school. We decided that we would have to do some research about how to care for tadpoles if we were going to take some with us.

This is what we have been able to find out:

The water:

Tadpoles, like fish, breathe through gills and therefore need clean water. Tap water contains chlorine which can be harmful to tadpoles and fish so is best no used unless the water has been left in sunlight for a day to allow the chlorine to evaporate. Rainwater or bottled water is a better option. Our tadpoles had been rescued from a murky puddle, so once safely back at school, we transferred them to a container of rainwater (collected in one of our waterbutts). The water will need to be changed regularly to keep it clean.

The tadpoles' container needs to be in a shady place and contain some rocks to provide them with cover.

Food:

In their natural habitat, tadpoles eat algae. Manhoor found out from her research that tadpoles raised in a tank can be fed on boiled minced lettuce or spinach.

The children are very excited about being able to watch them grow and develop over the coming weeks.