The RSPB's Leslie Lampe relives an inspiring encounter in Copenhagen
Image: Common Frog - Ben Andrew
If you’ve ever been to Copenhagen, you’ll know that, for a big city, it has a surprising number of green spaces and bodies of fresh water. When I visited friends there this summer, it was also raining steadily.
It posed a jarring contrast to my Instagram feed, bursting with pictures of a Europe on fire. But in Copenhagen, the rain, lakes and rivers created a sense of safety. To me, everything feels effortlessly alive near water, so much more alive in the rain. You can feel the life water breathes into everything it is surrounded by. I was reminded just how much life when out for a walk one night with friends. We were on a path by a lake that was framed by large trees, bushes, and undergrowth, when suddenly, I noticed a small movement on the tarmac among the stones and fallen leaves. A tiny brown froglet was slowly hopping across the path! I bent down, carefully let the frog jump into the palm of my hand, and released it into the undergrowth on the other side of the path. As I straightened up, my friend pointed to the ground and said: “There! Another one!”. A second later my partner grabbed my arm: “There’s two more!”
Carefully watching where we put our feet, we huddled together, back-to-back, staring at an army of froglets passing us by.
Then my emotions changed quickly from wonder to concern. The footpath was in the middle of the city. Cyclists used this path! I’d already seen multiple joggers, families with prams and running toddlers, people carrying their groceries home. Inevitably, someone would step on the froglets. They were small, reasonably slow, and hard to see on the muddy tarmac.
Image: Common Frog - Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Amphibians can struggle in fast-changing environments like growing cities, but the sheer number of froglets that we saw overrode my worries. If abundance can still exist in these unlikely places, nature might still have a fighting chance. Right? That thought, during this five-minute unexpected encounter, rekindled my determination to put a water source into my garden this summer. And a compost heap or log pile, as amphibians spend a lot of time out of the water too. I’ve already managed to attract plenty of Bumblebees – and even a Hummingbird Hawk-moth – with a tiny Lavender patch in my front garden. And if an army of froglets can make their fortune in Copenhagen city centre, they definitely can make it in my semi-urban neighbourhood in Cambridgeshire. Adding water for wildlife to an outdoor space is one of the most impactful things you can do for wildlife, and that’s just as true for urban spaces as it is for rural ones. If you want to learn how to safely add water, or create a home for frogs and toads, take a look at these links from our Nature on your Doorstep activity library: Make a house for frogs and toads Just add water