Friday 5 July 2013

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:











14 comments:

  1. I have total pond envy. Waaahh! I really want one! Is yours spring fed or do you have a pump/filter? I love that you have so much wildlife swimming around. I'm thinking about adding a pond to my garden but am having second thoughts because the only spot I have available is partly sunny/shady. I'm not sure I have enough sun to run a solar pump. :(

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    1. Hi, go on ... do it ! Ours is in semi-shade and has no pump at all, nor is it spring fed. We rely on a good eco-system within the pond, and the water is lovely and clear. We have lots of oxygenators and other plants. It is very relaxing to sit by ...

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  2. Me too, with the pond envy. I found, when along on fishing trips, that if I just sat very quietly much of the river's hidden life would reveal itself.

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    1. Hi Ricki, sitting quietly is very productive ! I also try not to cast a shadow over the water, and within seconds there is all sorts of activity to watch !

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  3. Jane, what a fantastic pond you have. There is so much life going on there. Surely a sign you are doing things right. and that orchid, very beautiful.

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  4. Hi Marguerite, thanks for your kind comments. So please that the orchid is flowering and hoping that it will self seed EVERYWHERE by next year !

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  5. That is so exciting! I just found your blog through Blooming Blogs, and I had to read this post. My most recent post is about my very modest pond. Yours is much more exciting!

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    1. Hi there, I shall pop over and read your post forthwith !! Ponds are such good fun, they enable us to 'play' to our heart's content - and all in the name of wildlife !

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  6. Does your pond have a liner or hard bottom or is it an earthen bottomed pond? Did you build the pond or was it already there? How deep is it? Do you get mosquitoes?

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    1. We dug it out ourselves (we being my son !) and put down barrier matting, then a liner, then put subsoil back on top, so we could plant directly. It has no pump or filters of any kind and we rely on haveing a good ecosystem to keep the water clear. It is about 2 feet deep at the middle and shelves very gently to help wildlife, so it is like a 'beach'. We get very few mosquitoes . Wildlife ponds can be very shallow with a maximum depth of only about 18 inches. I will link the post to a previous one about the making of it, so you can see the whole process. :-)

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  7. What kinds of creatures live in your pond? Does it freeze in the winter? I think I'm in a colder zone than you are. I'm zone 7A. I'm really intrigued by this since I'm dying for a pond. How much direct sun does it receive? Your pond is EXACTLY the kind of pond I want!!

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    1. Hi there, you can see from the photos the sort of beasties we get in the pond - we have frogs, toads, newts, sticklebacks,water boatmen, pondskaters, whirligig beetles, water spiders, snails, leeches, waterlice that I know about ! It does freee over in winter, and as it is quite shallow, it freezes hard. Although we lost some frogspawn in spring, everything else seemed to survive. We have been down to -15 degrees.

      It is actually shaded for about one third of the day by a huge sycamore tree, which is a real pain when it loses its leaves in Autumn, as we have to net the pond.

      Do it ... dig one ! there is always something to watch, you will get loads of wildlife, and honestly, once they are up and running there is very little maintainance. Through the summer we have to thin out weed and marginal plants as they grow like crazy !

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  8. Your pond seems pretty densely planted. Is the bottom bare or filled with plants? Weird question: was the wildlife mentioned in the post brought in by you or did they show up on their own? It seems like they'd need help getting there!

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  9. It is a regular job to thin out the planting, and to keep the right balance. The wildlife , in the main, appeared by itself ! The sticklebacks were introduced from a friend's pond, and we got a lot of the plants from another friend's pond. I think they must have had lots of eggs etc in them, as I wonder if a lot of the beasties came from them. The bottom of the pond is subsoil, planted mainly with oxygenating plants. Some things seem to have appeared on their own - the frogs, toads and newts certainly did !As we have no pump or filter, there have to be lots of oxygenating pondweed to keep the water clear and sweet. The pondsnails work hard to keep it clean too.

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