Re: New Pond and Bog

Wren your pond looks great...it's difficult to see much in such a small picture. How large is it. A word of warning. Keep netting out that Duck Weed otherwise your pond will be swamped before you know it. I removed every last bit for two seasons and my pond seems to be free of it now

Thanks Frog Prince. The photo was only taken with my phone. If I use our digital camera will it be bigger? not sure how you do it..I shall investigate. I kept hearing conflicting opinions about the duckweed, on the one hand, it's food for the taddies..on the other hand it spreads like crazy and is evil incarnate! I'll have to have a word with the boss as she thinks it looks pretty..I do too to be fair..but as you know it just fills the pond.

Size-wise, i'd guestimate it is 7ft by 5ft. With a deeper area starting half way across to the right as you look at it where the Iris is growing (about a foot deep). Up the shelf and to the left it gets shallower to a couple of inches.

On the pic below, you can see the duck weed covered edge of the pond on the bottom-right. Towards the top left you can see the brick border of our garden going diagonally across and up. Beyond that border it is semi-wild common land. Which if the frogs develop they can escape that way, if they don't live in the garden. I've no idea where the frog(s) who lay the spawn come from.

oh...think I've worked out how to make pictures bigger..

Sorry I'm forgetting my forum etiquette, this is Frog Prince's thread. I'll start my own thread, hope you helpful guys and gals comment if you want to :)

First Dragonfly seen around the pond this year.

It's a Common Hawker Aeshna juncea (female) I stand corrected ...It's a Southern Hawker :-)

Nice pictures, given the bold green/yellow thoracic markings, just behind the head, and the two joined up green bands towards the end of the tail I think this is a female southern hawker. A rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of one of these stunning dragons at rest!

Thank you Ian.......glad somebody is awake :-) I had a look again at my dragonfly I.D. chart and I stand corrected. The 'shoulder' markings and the tail indicate, as you say, a Southern hawker. I did the opposite of what I usually do and discounted the less common .

Hi Frog Prince

Wonderful photos of the Dragonflys, so clear, beautiful. I have a wildlife pond and had a good lot of frogspawn this year and most hatched into tadpoles, which are now tiny froglets, and a lot have left the pond, but some tadpoles still remain as tadpoles hopefully they will overwinter and hatch next year.

I also have some quite large tadpoles which have got their back legs and dont seem to growing their front ones yet, do you think they will transform this year or go on to grow into froglets next spring??

The chances are they will over winter as tadpoles and then get off to a good start in the spring. Depends on the pond and the winter!

Hi Frog Prince

Many thanks for your reply, I am hoping they will overwinter, but as you say a lot depends on the pond and the winter. I do have a pond heater which I use to keep ice free if needed, but I would like a pond with more depth to it, but I am a bit restricted for space.

I am hoping to put in another wildlife pond but it can only be about the size of the other pond but hopefully deeper.

One thing I want to do is provide as much habitat for pondlife as I can!!

The pond is well established and I have been neglecting it of late because the demands of garden and allotment have been greater. However this morning I decided to have a dip and was happy to find what I think are Pea Mussels. (Pisidium tenuilineatum) They are tiny. I've read that they rerely grow more than 2mm long and are rare on the GB Red list. The largest of these is 8mm. Am I right?

Hi FP i can't help you with the ID but t's fascinating to see, how would they have got in your pond?

They must have come with the plants I got from Wildlife friendly when I set the pond up.

They do look like they might be.  Missed your photos of the Southern Hawker when you first posted them.  What a stunning dragon and excellent photos.

Caroline in Jersey

Hi FP the Dragonfly photos are magnificent and it's really interesting about the Pea mussels. This thread is still one of my faves.