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My daughter and I made a garden pond a month ago, using an old tin bath. Today, while litter picking at the dried up riverbed in potton - we spotted half a dozen tiny frogs. We went home and put some water from the water butt into a small bucket and returned to rescue you what we could. Needless to say we now have five baby frogs in our small garden pond! My daughter is thrilled to finally have some wildlife in there, but my question is; do I have to do anything in particular? Buy them food etc?
I vaguely recall reading/hearing from a reliable source, only 2% of tadpoles make it to the adult frog stage.
Nature can seem harsh, and the reason why so much frog spawn is produced is to balance out the high mortality rate, so those dead froglets will provide food for other species. Tadpoles will make a food supply for fish in water courses, ponds and lakes, along with the many larvae that will live in the water, just as larvae will make for a food supply for fish and other creatures.
While your froglets in their new found home can get in and out of the pond, they will also need to get in and out of the garden to meet up with other frogs, or there will be a risk of inbreeding.
It is a learning curve, and will be a fascinating one, and while your intentions were well meaning, ideally, it is best to leave nature to live in its own natural habitat where possible.
One final thing, water from a water butt, that can have its own problems depending on where the water is collected from. Roof's can harbour toxic chemicals to wildlife, but not humans, from the roofing material used, particularly felt roofs and older felt roofs that are close to requiring replacement.