French Frogs in France

We have, now been at Le Farat for nearly a month, wow how time flys. When we first arrived the weather was miserable. It was raining, cold and clouds on the ground! Great I thought, we have moved all this way to get away from the British weather and it has followed us!

However, within four days the sun had come out, it was much warmer than in the UK and the feel-good factor started to kick in. Since 30th March I think we have only had the intial four days of rain, and one day yesterday when it was overcast. The rest of the time the sun has been shining and it has been really warm during the day.

With this warm weather we noticed a strange noise coming from the lake. I thought it was ducks squabbling, but wandered down to take a look and saw nothing. After a few days of this strange noise I mentioned it to my new French friend who said it was frogs!

My husband, my daughters and I crept down to the waters edge and sat and waited for something to happen. We did not have to wait long, although the frogs were shy, once one started to make a noise others joined in and soon there was a crushendo of 30 frogs or more croaking in unison, sort of a cross between ducks squawking and witches cackling! Then one or two started to take scuicidal type leaps from the trees and banks, adopting a starfish like pose and plopping into the water and then jumping on top of each other. I am sure it is not still mating season as the pond is already full of tadpoles, so we are unsure why they are acting this way now!

The fish however seem unphased and my husband has been sitting regularly with Abigail on the bank with a rod to see what they can catch. Result, so far each time they have caught something without much of a wait and Abigail is over the moon (generally, a kids attention level is not the same as their avid fishing fan dads!). All the fish caught so far have been Roach (silver fish with deep red fins). They are not huge, probably at present only a few ounces and about 4-6 inches long.

So the lake at Le Farat is deffinitely a great spot for dads to sit with eager youngsters who want to catch something on their first fishing trip as the fish are not too timid. We have been advised to add in a few carp up to about 8lbs soon and they will keep the frog numbers down and make the fishing a bit more interesting. Now on the hunt for some stock carp!