Why are so many species reproducing late this year? Hope this question is OK for this site, couldn't see where else to ask it. We've spent a few days out in the countryside recently, and have been very surprised at how many species appear to have very young offspring so late in the season. I was always under the impression that the vast majority of animals and fish produced young in the spring (March/April). For example, we saw tadpoles, fluffy (ie obviously very young) coots and weeny minnows. I would have expected that all of these would have been born/laid a good 3 or 4 months ago, and so would be more mature by now. Caveat: We didn't do a scientific study, this is just a strong impression we got from days out in north west England.

It's hard to say without more information, but one substantial possibility is that you are mistaken that species are reproducing late - that's a problem with anecdotal rather than scientific data!

Additionally, species you mention like the common coot can attempt multiple broods where the season is long enough. Wikipedia specifically mentions Britain:

> Eurasian coots normally only have a single brood each year but in some areas such as Britain they will sometimes attempt a second brood

The same could be true for species of frogs/toads and fish, so without knowing specific species it can't be known whether these are species reproducing _again_ or species reproducing _late_.