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A large fly with the most amazing eye's I've managed to capture with a camera. Taken last summer, the fly was warming up on the fence near the pond heading towards Shipstal Point.

I made a quick visit to my parents place last weekend and had a quick look in the pond I dug for them a couple of years ago. It has been a success with frogs breeding in it two springs in a row and a number of cool invert's like backswimmers and the occasional damselfly. However, on peering into...

A pair of Mute Swans on the iced over water struggling to get across the pond. Taken at Old Moor on 10th December 2011. This time last year the water was a solid mass of ice so things are slightly better up to now for the birds.

Did you discover if it was draining or not, bad luck if you sprung a leak. Some tips here if a leak is suspected.

Hi Meesha, welcome to the forums! GeoDave's suggestion of a solar pump is a cracking idea, definitely one to consider. However, at this time of year many of the pond creatures that you are seeing are looking for somewhere to spend the winter months, especially frogs. My advice would be to create...

What wildlife lives in the grounds of your school/home/club? Do you provide any safe, comfortable homes for them? Wildlife homes can be a really attractive feature, and may also be a use for that neglected corner that you don’t quite know what to do with. They could also make an ideal project to...

So you’ve got your classroom all sorted, you’ve labelled the drawers, dusted the books and changed your displays, but have you thought about the space outside your window? The grounds of schools can sometimes be damp and dismal places, with little reason for cheer. However, I know some...

I thought i'd kick this thread off by seeing if anybody is planning on doing something for nature with their school grounds this year? Whether it's a new pond, a bird feeding table or a themed area devoted to wildlife, it'd be great to hear about it.

Hi Rory, your friend shouldn't worry to be honest. Moorhens may remove some pond weed for nesting and may move some around whilst they are feeding but they will not devastate it. If the weed they are taking is the oxygenating pond weed then this grows back really quick. They shouldn't damage...

Here at The Lodge nature reserve we have spent the last three weekends at our “dragonfly watch” Date with Nature. After being thwarted by a very wet and slow start on the first weekend, with few visitors and even fewer dragonflies, the weather improved hugely and we have had great views of...

Two starlings having in bath in the pond in my garden. :]

You get a call from the window, 'come quick, we've got long-tailed tits on the feeder again'. You rush over as fast as you can, but it always seems too late - they've flown off without giving you as much as a glimpse of their tails! If this sounds like your experience of 'watching'...

Hi everyone, I've been lucky enough to have had a few days away, so sorry for things being quiet on the blog front. If there were any doubts that spring had arrived, they've surely gone now. Adam, who works in Saltholme's visitor centre, took this photo of some toad spawn in one of...

Normally this time of year (or earlier) our small pond would be wall to wall frogs. I have counted 100 on there in previous years (the pond is only about a metre square!) This year there are none. I don't think it was this virus, they were healthy last year and no sign of dead frogs around. I am...

Thankfully, the dearth of fruit has been temporarily remedied but far more disturbing and arguably more detrimental to the wellbeing of island staff was running out of red wine last weekend. However, seeing the sun today has lifted the spirits and our first daffodils are positively glowing in the garden...

Hi everyone, Only nine days to Christmas. That makes it day 16 on Saltholme's advent calendar. Most of the photographs were taken by visitors and added to Saltholme's facebook group but this is another from Saltholme's assistant warden, Toby. This baby water vole was part of a family of...

Broad bodied chaser visited the garden pond.

Broad bodied chaser visited the garden.

Ode to Conservation When you’re up to your axles in black mud, and the gorse thickets seem ten foot tall, it’s hard to remember you’re here for the redshank ... and nobody cares at all! Conservation ain’t all coffee and gift shops. That part of it is really quite small....

AnnaBanana bramble67 Wow both of you sound like you get an amazing selection of birds. I am currently having fewer species, but more of the ones I am getting. Greenfinches x7 Goldfinches x 6 House Sparrows, too many to count Robins x 2 Dunnocks x4 Collared doves, feral pigeons...

Hi there Over the past week or so we have noticed a large Dragonfly patrolling our garden area Dave thinks it might be a Brown Hawker but we are still to give a definite ID of the species. We have tried to get a picture but no joy yet. We have a pond which we have not cleared out in any way...

Hello All: My name is Lucas Kao, a student filmmaker in Edinburgh, currently making a short film inspired by poem by Ron Butlin, the Poet Laureate (Makar) of Edinburgh, the film will use a small local loch with swans and other birds as the prime filmming location. The swans taking off and flying...

An action picture of birds in a pond near the beach in Torquay. Ducks and Seagulls enjoying the sun together.

Our annual clearance of the ponds at the hide took place this week. We do this most years, so that the ponds provide the best conditions for our rare natterjack toads to breed in. The best pond for natterjacks is the large one right in front of the hide, so please accept our apologies if you were...

I wanted to attract wildlife by making a pond in our allotmet. It took lot's of hard work and me and my dad where proud of it. One month later a frog came to our pond. She chose it for her home. I was so amazed a moment which will last forever.

watching this mallard with her 12 ducklings swimming around is nice also there is some moorehen chicks about to all on the village pond

For 14 years I enjoyed moments like this on my pond. In 1 season it has all gone as new tenants remove EVERYTHING I had put in place to make my garden a wildlife home. Such a shame, so typical of today.