The frogs’ migration season is approaching: helpers are getting ready

Created: 03/07/2022, 10:00 am

In action: Eva Burger, chairman of the Miesbach local group of the Bund Naturschutz, is collecting amphibians along the protective fence near Fehnerschmiede again this year.

This picture shows her in April 2021. © archiv Tp

In the spring, frogs, toads and newts migrate to their spawning grounds.

To ensure that they can cross the streets safely, the landscape conservation association and the state building authority erect protective fences every year.

It's that time again next week.

District –

When the temperature at night is around five degrees and it rains on top of that, the time has come: That’s when amphibians wake up from their hibernation and set off on their journey to their spawning waters at dusk.

"There is still no train to be expected because we have night frosts," explains Helmut Schneider, coordinator of the amphibian protection project of the Holzkirchner local group of the Bund Naturschutz (BN).

"But we expect that to happen in the middle of next week." After all, it's not just temperature and humidity that tell the amphibians that it's mating season.

"They have something like an internal clock," explains Schneider.

"The further we get into March, the harder this clock is ticking."

That is why construction of the amphibious protection fences, which are around 30 centimeters high, will start in the middle of next week.

By the end of the week, all eight streets in the district that are considered amphibian migration routes should be secured with protective fences.

Depending on whether it is a district road or a state road, the landscape conservation association (LPV) and the state building authority in Rosenheim take on the erection and dismantling of the fences.

This was announced by district office spokeswoman Sophie-Marie Stadler on request.

The LPV is responsible for five fences.

Amphibian protection costs around 20,000 euros a year, says LPV Managing Director Mathias Fischer.

However, the LPV only bears 30 percent of the costs, the rest is covered by the government of Upper Bavaria.

wooden churches

The LPV is responsible for the approximately 100 meter long fence along the MB 19 district road on the southern outskirts of Sufferloh on Holzkirchner Flur.

The fence in the Teufelsgraben, on the other hand, is being built by the Rosenheim State Building Authority because this is a state road.

Helmut Schneider and his colleagues from the Holzkirchner BN Group do the so-called collection on both streets.

They retrieve the amphibians from the buckets dug into the ground along the fences and carry them across the street.

So they don't get run over.

Volunteering is not without its dangers, because they could be overlooked by drivers in the twilight.

But an office that is close to Schneider's heart - he has been coordinating the amphibian protection project for 20 years.

He hopes to be able to continue the positive development of the past year this year: in 2021, after three years in which both spawning waters in the Teufelsgraben had dried up, at least one was preserved - with an impact on the population of common toads.

The amphibian protectors counted 997 in the Teufelsgraben last year.

This corresponds to an increase of almost twelve percent compared to 2020.

Miesbach

Eva Burger, chairwoman of the Miesbacher Bund nature conservation group, is watching the development in the area she oversees with concern.

She collects amphibians at the protective fence that stands along the road that leads from Agatharied via Ostin to Gmund.

Here is the Fehnbach, two ponds and a basin probably designed for fish farming, in which grass frogs, mountain newts and common toads spawn.

“There has been deforestation here,” says Burger.

"We'll see how this affects the population." Untidy, damp areas with hedges, overgrown grass and trees are important habitats for amphibians.

Weyarn

Rita Thelen is also in the starting blocks: "So far, nothing is going on," says the conservationist who helps amphibians across the road at Brucker Weiher near Weyarn.

She watches the weather report and expects the first animals to travel next week.

Last year she counted 134 tree frogs and 80 common and agile frogs - these species are threatened with extinction.

"It would be great if we had even more helpers to help with the collection," says Thelen.

BY BETTINA STUHLWEISSENBRUG

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