Pond life
There’s a giant tadpole in our pond, the amphibian Jaws of suburban Sussex.
I started wondering if it had just had a head start out the frogspawn, and so did some research. In a way, it probably has had a leap ahead, but from last year, not this. It turns out that if the conditions aren’t right to turn into a frog (too much competition for food, weather, etc), some tadpoles just stay as tadpoles during the winter. Waiting, feeding, growing. Then when the spring conditions come round again, they’re first out the gate, and become bigger than average frogs.
This is perhaps a year to live in the pond, and become a stronger frog when spring comes around again.