I managed to get out today, 20th Feb, to a ditch nearby. It's been quite cold all week though above freezing most nights.The focus of the ditch had moved due to drain clearing and overgrowth of the grass banks but after a few minutes I found a large raft of spawn in the shallows. I'd say it was laid yesterday or the day before by the consistency of it so my expectation of finding my first spawn of the year around the 17th of February is still holding up. These are Rana temporaria frogs, the only species in Ireland. the frogs in my garden ponds are still lurking on the bottom but then my garden is particularly cold at the moment and at a higher altitude.