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Author Topic: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!  (Read 5338 times)

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
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Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« on: July 03, 2015, 09:01:21 pm »
A friend has just called me, concerned about jelly blobs that have appeared in her next door neighbour's garden.  They range from about a quarter inch on slabs to groups in a patch of a few inches.

They've tried googling and have found reference to them elsewhere but no-one seems to know where they come from, or have a name for them.

They are clear, and when she accidentally stood on one it was sticky on her shoe.

They are worried they may spread and also about the effect on wildlife, and would like to get rid of them.

I've told them to contact environmental health - but it's the  weekend and guess what, no-one is available!
Going to PM Rosemary on FB to see if she knows.
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Thyme

  • Joined Apr 2013
  • Machynlleth, Powys
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2015, 09:16:58 pm »
There are internet threads saying that container compost often has added beads of water retaining gel, and that if it gets really wet for a prolonged time they can expand into jelly blobs like you describe.
Shetland sheep, Copper Marans chickens, Miniature Silver Appleyard ducks, and ginger cats.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
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Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2015, 09:18:19 pm »
That's what we thought too, but she hasn't added any new plants or bought any compost since last year.  Could they last that long?  ???
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
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Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2015, 09:24:15 pm »
photos
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Thyme

  • Joined Apr 2013
  • Machynlleth, Powys
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2015, 09:30:37 pm »
I don't know, but it sounds to me like the kind of thing that could last indefinitely.  Here's a photo of compost with gel, it does look rather like your photos.
Shetland sheep, Copper Marans chickens, Miniature Silver Appleyard ducks, and ginger cats.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2015, 09:33:41 pm »
The top one appears like frogspawn, even down to tadpole-like things inside.  I think it was on Chris Packhams show about the weirdest things in nature, that this was discussed.  The only thing I can remember was that they thought it might be the jelly that female frogs produce when they spawn, without any eggs in.   I think they wondered about other options but I can't remember what they were  ::)
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

verdifish

  • Joined Jan 2013
  • banffshire
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2015, 10:08:02 pm »
Aliens I tell ya !????  :excited: Mamas come back to me !!!

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
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Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2015, 10:11:18 pm »
You wouldn't believe the number of times THAT answer has come up  :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

pitiliedon

  • Joined May 2014
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2015, 10:43:37 pm »
I would guess at gel from compost but the other similar things you see are when a fox/badger/heron/ otter eats a frog and what would eventually be the food part for the tadpole  is expelled from the carcass it hydrates in rain to that type of jelly. The other is what some call starshot I believe it is a fungus jelly more often seen in the uplands where high rainfall

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2015, 11:08:39 am »
Yep, we get loads of this stuff on the moorlands.  I was told it was slime mold, but it isn't. 

I've just been doing a bit of googling ('jelly blobs') and didn't realise that it was thought to be so rare.  It isn't, it's common, so common that those of us who live where it is often found don't report it.  Now that I know it's still a mystery (I thought it was accepted that it was to do with frogs or newts spawning, but it seems that isn't so), I shall have to find myself a scientist to take some to next time I come across some!
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2015, 06:57:15 pm »
Way too late for frog spawn surely!

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2015, 07:29:57 pm »
I think it's thought to be the stuff the female frog secretes as the 'white' of her eggs.  No eggs now of course, but the thinking is that the jelly is still there.  A predator would probably not like to eat it so spits that bit out.  It must surely be somehow compressed, as the volume of the average spawn dollop is bigger than the lady frog.  I've no idea if it's true, but that is the suggestion.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #12 on: July 05, 2015, 09:39:33 am »
Curiouser and curiouser ??? ???

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
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Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2015, 11:11:24 am »
Just heard that the blobs are still there despite heavy rain yesterday and now glorious hot warm sun! Not thought to be water retaining gel as she hasn't bought any plants fro months, nor compost. And not near enough a water course for frogs or toads to come into the garden.  I'm going to see them today or tomorrow.
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

farmvet

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: Jelly blobs - and no this is NOT a wind up!
« Reply #14 on: July 12, 2015, 11:31:59 pm »
Algae? A farmer had similar last year completely blocking a large pipe. You could try putting the pics on I-spot.

 

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