[goosey]

By hook or crook I think we have got there - thanks for all your help, and a ingenious tip from Suzanne - "frog spawn" I would never have got there in a million years!

Originally Posted by Suzanne B

I've just been reading up on 'disemboweling toads/frogs/newts (like you do! ) and it appears that some birds such as herons and crows do this (and rats skin them). So that could be a likely explanation for the way you found it.

There are always herons there, so they are my No1 suspect!

Originally Posted by kayleigh

I could equally be a toad remains as they lay long strings of spawn..

I think you could be right with toads, some of it does look like long strings, and I have seen toads there and not frogs.

Originally Posted by paul m

Yes, the stringy bits could be toad or newt spawn but, as noted, the rest looks rather undeveloped .... the tubes could be oviduct or whatever it is called that the eggs pass down from te ovaries ..... the only time I recall seeing something like this was when a fertlised frog was run over by a car and her insides shot across the road ..... don't see how something like that could have happened here (someone with a big boot?) ....

I don't think that the frog/toad was trodden on unless the same clumsy person was walking across trees aswell. Oviducts must be what we can see in the latter images.

Thanks again all, the probable result is a lttle disappointing, frog/toad innards and not a new undiscovered fungi or insect eggs - but now we know