Two Common frogs, Rana temporaria, spawning in a moorland pool at about 900 metres on The Cairnwell hill in the southern Cairngorms.

Frogs are ubiquitous in the Cairngorms in bogs, lakes, sluggish streams and pools.
Some spawn at even higher altitudes on nearby Glas Maol.
These were photographed in April, although they spawn up to two months earlier in the valley.
Frosts destroy most of the eggs that are laid up here, but some frogs lay as late as May or even June, and a few survive.

At the right time, hundreds of frogs can sometimes be seen making their way up the steep mountainsides from who knows where to these remote breeding places.

Through the winter they hibernate in sediment deep down in lakes and ponds, under up to five metres of water.
Here they survive for months in a state of torpor, without breathing air, as dissolved oxygen is absorbed directly from the surrounding water through the frog's highly permeable skin.

Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland.