What lies beneath

We never  truly grow up. The things that gave us pleasure as small children retain their power throughout our lives. So give me a net, wellies and the equivalent of a jam jar and I am still  content. Add in some grown up toys, like a camera, tripod and Macro lens, and I am deeply content ! I also have the best possible excuse, as I am doing it in the name of science, for my blog !

The wild life pond is now buzzing with life in all its many and varied forms, from the insects flying above it, to the fish swimming in its waters, so I decided to go pond dipping and see just what does lie beneath the surface of the waters.

All the life forms I found I put into a glass receptacle so that I could photograph them more easily, and they were returned to the pond within an hour.

I found three newts fairly quickly as there are lots in the pond at the present time. They are only found in great numbers for a few weeks around this time of year, as they come to mate and lay their eggs. Eggs are laid singly, unlike frogs and toads, and each one is wrapped in a leaf to protect it. When they hatch newtlets are tiny, and vaguely resemble a cross between a tiny fish and a tadpole. On close inspection, you can see the feathery gills along their sides, which they use to breathe. These disappear as they mature.

Here is a shot of the belly of a newt, showing the spotting.

The wildlife pond has sticklebacks in it, which are breeding well. There are some tiny, newly hatched fry as well as some much larger fish. If you look closely you can see the spines along this Stickleback's back which give the fish its name. The males are very territorial, especially in the breeding season, and this one kept lifting his spines, because he was confined with other fish temporarily.

Earlier in the year, the males show their breeding colours, which are quite vivid turquoise and red around their bellies.

Ok, so the leeches in our British ponds are not exactly as huge and ferocious as the ones which attached themselves to Humphrey Bogart in the 'The African Queen', but I still went a bit funny when I had to pick it out of the net ! Lots of leeches live in the mud at the bottom of the pond and are an important part of the eco - system of the pond. So I'm told. (I think we could do perfectly well without them !)

Usually at this time, or a little later in the season, after it has rained, the grass is full of little froglets leaving the pond. Strangely this year, I keep seeing lots of tadpoles at the moment, which have hardly started to develop. This one is very large and has its back legs, but lots have no limb growth at all. This is only a theory, but I did wonder if a second lot of spawn had been laid after the first lot was killed by the frosts ?

And where would we be without the scavengers ? The snails, cleaning up and clearing up the rubbish that everything else leaves behind ! The pond is full of them in all different shapes and sizes. There are the common snails, as in the photo, and Ramshorn snails, shaped as the name suggests.

There are so many beasties I haven't included - the pondskaters skimming along the surface, the Water Boatmen rowing their way through the waters, the Freshwater Lice, the Whirligig beetles and lots more.

The planting around the pond has naturalised and matured and I am so excited that I have a native Orchid growing now. Hopefully it will set seed and spread around the margins.

The pond is in its third season and there are still two things I long to see , a dragonfly , and swallows skimming the water for insects.

If you would like to see how we made our pond, you might like to view this  post:

'It won't take much digging !'

Taddy- licious ...

Way way back, when the garden was brown and not green, and the only colour around was my red nose, I wrote a post about finding frogspawn in our wildlife pond   ('Look what we've got ...' ). Turns out the hapless frogs had done the dirty deed much too soon, as the majority of the frogspawn died in the ensuing 'Big Freeze'. Most of it had begun to degenerate  (  'De-frogification ...' ), but I managed to find a clump which still looked reasonably good, and put it in the greenhouse, to protect it from the worst of the weather. Not in a special tank, you understand, but in a plastic take away carton !

If I am honest I did sort of forget about it for a few days, and when I went back to check, I was delighted to find that the eggs had hatched, and turned from little black full stops to little black commas !  See the post 'Re-frogification ...' to get the full unexpurgated version !

The tadpoles were re-introduced gently to the pond,  ('Re-frogification revisited ...' ) and left to their own devices. The weather had warmed up and slowly, slowly, Spring began to spring.

This is what I saw today, the little tadpoles love the warmer shallow water, and positively 'swarm' on the gently sloping sides of the pond.

They have developd from the little commas they were, and their bodies and tails can be easily discerned.

Apologies for quality of this photo, but I wanted to show you the mass of black bodies !

So, crisis over for this seasons new generation of frogs, who can now grow up happily in the pond, taking the usual life chances along the way.

I am now on the look out for newt eggs and newtlets, as I have spotted adult newts  in the pond several times. I will keep you posted ...

Expect the unexpected ...

Birds in the garden are expected and encouraged. We put out a variety of food throughout the year to encourage different varieties - Niger seed for Goldfinches, fatballs for Blue Tits and so on ...

Here are some birds we were very surprised to see, as they were most unexpected !

Last summer I found this Sparrowhawk in our conservatory, nursing an injured wing and, I think, mild concussion ! Our garden forms part of its hunting territory and, sadly, it considers my fantail doves to be a great delicacy. I think it dived down on a dove and somehow flew through the open doors and collided with a window. When I found it, it was very stunned and holding its wing at such an odd angle I feared it may be broken. I was so keen to help to back to freedom that I threw a tea towel over its head so that I could approach it, then lifted it up and perched it on my fist. It was only when I uncovered its head and looked into those piercing golden eyes that I realised I may have taken a bit of a risk ! A look at the talons gripping onto my hand didn't make me feel any better ! However, I took it to the open door and it took a deep breath, and then took off without a backward glance, full strength recovered. It was fantastic to get so close to it and I was relieved all fingers were intact after the encounter !

You can see the odd angle of the Sparrowhawk's wing here, it was lucky to escape a more permanent injury.

Our other unusual visitors also appeared last summer ...

If you look closely you can see six little chicks which had just hatched. They are extremely well camouflaged ! I found the nest and the egg shells amongst the geraniums, so they must have been there for quite a while without me noticing. I was looking forward to watching the chicks grow, but when I checked it out online, I found out that as soon as they are hatched the mother leads them away from the nest and they never return. I watched them walk down the garden, all in a long line behind their mum, until they disappeared into the orchard next door.

We now have up to half a dozen pheasants roosting most nights under the Box, and I don't know if they are the grown up babies or not, but I like to think they are.

Finally, here is a baby that only its mother could love ! 

My Fantail doves regularly lay eggs and sometimes I substitute plastic eggs for the real thing, to keep numbers down, and sometimes I leave the eggs to hatch. This little one was a total surprise as the parents had built a so-called nest (a few sticks !) low down in the wood pile, and the first I knew about it was when I heard this one begging its parents for food. I have to admit it is low on  cuteness, particularly compared to the fluffy Pheasant chicks. However, in about two weeks those feathers had grown and he was beautiful !

Re-frogification revisited !

Readers who have read previous posts 'Frogification' and 'Re-frogification' will know that I have been trying to keep some frogspawn alive, which was laid in our pond just before the cripplingly low temperatures kicked in, a few weeks ago.

Most of the frogspawn already laid was killed by the icy water temperature, and began to disintegrate after a few days.  However,  I did manage to find one clump which had been protected as it was lying in slightly deeper water,  underneath a larger clump. I salvaged it and put it in the greenhouse, in a take-away container ! Nothing but the best for my little taddies !

If I am honest I didn't hold out much hope for it, and nearly forgot about it, remembering to check only when temperatures began to rise. When I checked ... there was life ! Wriggling, active tadpoles !

They went back into the pond, after they were gradually introduced to the colder water.

I swear they turned and waved before they swam away!

I spent ages this morning gazing into the pond to see if any of the original frogspawn had hatched (note to self ... must get out more !). I did see the occasional tadpole, but nothing like the hoards we usually have - the pond sides are usually thick with them, in the shallows.

So, I think I maybe did do some good in the name of re-frogification, as I have reintroduced about 50 tadpoles which would otherwise have died.

De-frogification :-(

Oh dear, it doesn't look good ... I had a little walk down to the wildlife pond this morning to check up on the progress of the frogspawn.

 As I feared, it is not developing at all, due to the freezing temperatures we have had recently. There is clearly no development in the eggs and the jelly around them has become cloudy and is breaking down.

The more recently laid frogspawn still looks good, but I think it is a bit of an illusion, as it too, will fail to develop having been frozen in the icy water. I am wondering if there will be more spawn laid, or if that is it now until next year? There is no sign of a frog anywhere, whereas the pond is usually full of them at this time.

On the smiley side though, I did see my first glimpse this season of a stickleback, as it darted out of a clump of weed, far too speedily for a photo opportunity !