I got caught off guard by the early spring this year. Usually the frogs(Rana temporaria) around here, in Ireland, breed about the 17th feb but this year we had very warm weather and I saw a few frogs on the roads leading to the ponds on the 2nd of feb. I usually go to England to see the commom toads(Bufo bufo) spawning a few weeks after the frogs have spawned here in Ireland so I made a few calculations and consulted old dates and booked my ticket to England for the 5th of march.Then the weather got really cold and the frogs disappeared from sight and I ended up flying into a freezing cold England with not a sign of a toad. I was even too early for the frogs in most places I knew in England even though they usually breed three weeks before the toads. I came back to Ireland to find that the frogs had spawned here on a warm day in my absence so I missed them here. We've had a few days of heavy snow here but it's bck to more normal temperatures now.I did find some torpid common newts (Triturus vulgaris )on land in England but we get them in Ireland too so it's no big deal.
I'm thinking of going again on about the 26th 0f March but I'd hate to go and find I'd missed them. It's not easy being a herpetologist