The Dew Pond.

I thought you might like to see how the dew/wildlife pond is looking. My Extremely Handsome Son George and I are very pleased with it. The plants are growing well and it is absolutely teeming with life. Mostly... I was going to say insects but are things that live in the water insects? I haven't really thought about that before. There is a great diving beetle, a voracious predator. I was going to remove it but EHS George wouldn't hear of it. "It's part of nature dad," he says and of course he is right.
There are dragonfly larva. And pond skaters and little beetles that do nothing but swim in circles. Lots of tiny little things and clouds of daphnia. All of which will provide food for the frogs and toads we hope will soon colonise. EHS George put frog and toad spawn in earlier this year and they are growing fast. I have also noticed that newts have found their way in.

Birds come down to drink and bathe in the shallow edges and I have seen blackbirds taking beakfuls of mud to build their nests. A pair of mallards are regular visitors too. I am worried that they might cause damage to the plants but there again it is a wildlife pond.

Something I find interesting is that the pond is actually working as a dew pond despite that we had to resort to using a manufactured liner instead of leaving it as just clay. It has never needed the water to be topped up and doesn't evaporate as it does in a much smaller pond nearby.

Extremely Handsome Son George  by the dew pond.

The dew pond

Have a lovely weekend.