Common Frog

The common frog is a small, smooth-skinned amphibian found across much of Europe. Its back can be olive green, brown, grey, or yellowish, and it grows to about 6 to 9 centimetres long. You might meet one near a pond, in a marsh, in damp grass, or even hopping around a garden on a rainy evening.

One of this frog’s neatest tricks is that it can change how light or dark its skin looks. By turning a little paler or a little darker, the common frog can blend in with the mud, leaves, and plants around it. This clever camouflage helps it stay hidden and safe from birds and other animals that might be hunting for a snack.

Common frogs are amazingly tough in the cold. When winter arrives they rest through the chilliest months, and in the far north of their range a frog can spend up to nine months trapped beneath the ice. Even then it does not freeze solid — it can stay alive and slowly moving at temperatures very close to freezing.

Grown-up common frogs are carnivores, which means they eat other little creatures. They wait quietly and then snap up insects, spiders, slugs, snails, and worms. As a frog grows bigger, it can catch bigger prey, so the largest frogs enjoy the widest choice of wriggly meals.

Every frog begins life as a tiny tadpole. At first the tadpoles nibble mostly algae and soft plants, but once their back legs grow they become hungry little carnivores too. The common frog is listed as Least Concern, so it is still widespread. We can help by keeping ponds clean and safe, since healthy ponds and gardens give these gentle frogs the perfect place to grow up.