Hop to It - Irish Frog Survey About the Survey

The Hop to It! - Irish Frog Survey is being organised by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council to find out more about the status of the frog in Ireland.

The Common Frog (Rana temporaria) is considered to be widespread and common in Ireland but vulnerable in the rest of Europe. The Common Frog is found in countryside and urban garden ponds and in a range of habitats from lowland farmland to mountain bog and forestry plantations. The frog breeding season may only last a few nights in a pond, after which the adults move away to forage for food on land in other types of habitat. In winter frogs hide in frost-free refuges, under tree stumps, in turf stacks or in rock piles, where they enter torpor until the following spring.

Around the world scientists are concerned about the status of many amphibians - which some people say seem to be declining. These people believe that ozone depletion, global warming, pollution, and loss of habitats may be causing their decline and even extinction.

We just don't know what is causing the decline - and we know even less about the frog in Ireland.

The reason for our Hop to It Irish Frog Survey is to get baseline information on frogs - our most common amphibian. The first Hop to It Irish Frog Survey was begun in 1997 and it has been on-going since then. We collect records every year for frogs, so please join in. Every so often we analyse all the information and prepare special reports on the status of the Common Frog in Ireland. The last scientific report was published in 2003.

Map of the distribution of The Common Frog in Ireland 1997 Distribution of The Common Frog based on the three main studies that have taken place in Ireland on frogs by An Foras Forbartha in 1979, Trinity College in 1997 and IPCC's Hop To It Irish Frog Survey in 1997. Each dot corresponds to the presence of a frog within a 10km2 area. While frogs have been recorded in every county in Ireland, there are still some areas where there are no records or where records are sparse. Some of these records date back to 1979, so a new survey will reveal the current distribution of frogs in Ireland and any changes that have occurred. Yellow dots: found in all 3 studies Green dots: found in 2 of the 3 studies Blue dots: found in only 1 study

The First Hop To It Irish Frog Survey 1997
The first Hop To It Irish Frog Survey was undertaken by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council in 1997. The survey aimed to provide base-line information about where frogs occur, the habitats they prefer, when they start breeding and their breeding success in Ireland. In all 832 frog survey records were completed by members of the public and students in primary and secondary schools. The survey showed that frogs occurred and reproduced in every county in the Republic of Ireland in 1997. The majority of frogs were recorded at elevations ranging from 0 to 200m above sea level. This included all four stages in the life-cycle. Garden ponds, farm ponds, streams, bog pools, drains and ditches were the most important habitats for breeding frogs.

Hop To It Irish Frog Survey 2003
The second analysis of the Hop To It Frog Database Information was undertaken by IPCC in 2003 and extended our knowledge of the distribution of frogs in Ireland. The map below shows the records up to 2003.

Map of the distribution of The Common Frog in Ireland based on the results of the 2003 Hop to It Frog Survey   Red dots: a record from a 10km2 from this years' Hop to It Frog Survey 2003 Go here to get a detailed map for each county   Last Updated: 28th August 2003

10 Years of the Hop To It Irish Frog Survey 2007
IPCC have received 3,600 frog records since the survey first began in 1997. Frog spawn records represent one third of all the records. Frogs have been found in every county of Ireland. Tyrone has the lowest number of reported sightings and Dublin has the highest in our database. 82% of our records are from the countryside, 17% are from city suburbs and 1% are from habitats found in the inner city. The most common place to find a frog is in a garden pond according to our information. In 2007, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland used the IPCC Hop To It Frog Records in their conservation assessment of the Common Frog in Ireland. A Report for the European Union containing a map of all the Hop To It Frog Records will be published in 2007, as the information is the most up to date in the country. So well done to everyone who has sent in their records over the years. Keep up the good work, and keep sending us those records for spawn, tadpoles, froglets and adult frogs.

Now is your chance to get involved in a great conservation project

So go out there and record the information we need on the frog in your locality and help us build up the national picture of the frog in Ireland.

To get involved yourself - get your Frog Survey Card & Instructions here.

Thanks for joining in.