Plantlife International

A follow up to my last post.

Here is a link to the latest newsletter from Plantlife for the month of April:

http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6387c261b542b56fc9cdf7726&id=86ae6360e6&e=3369987e57


Visit their web site on this link. Plantlife.org.uk -    http://www.plantlife.org.uk/

Monster from the murky Pond

Have'nt got time to write much about photos taken this morning showing  life in our small pond. Add some details later.

Damselfly number two. Azure damselfly. Coenagrion puella

Having got excited about the discovery of a Damselflies in our new pond (12 months old now)  described in my last post then we had another new arrival. This time it appeared clinging to a stem of a pond plant  and looked very new having just  emerged from its nymphal cast which was also close by. It appeared in the sunlight to be  translucent and almost colourless. I've been advised that the colour takes time to develop and that it is likely to be an Azure damselfly. Here is the photo I manged to get leaning over the side of the pond to get close enough.

Pyrrhosoma nymphula and a small wildlife garden

Last year we created a very small pond about 2m long by1m and in its second summer I took some photos today which I'm really pleased with.
Last year the Somerset Wildlife Trust started encouraging members to create a wildlife garden however small and that's what we have done and its great to see it attracting new wildlife. An Orange Tip butterfly also flew by whilst I was taking these shots but didn't stop for me.

Dont forget if you click on the photo it will give you a larger picture.

My guess is that the Damselflie is Pyrrhosma nymphula , Large red damselfly. Later on I saw a pair mating and laying eggs in the pond vegetation which I had added only a week ago!

These two flies came and rested on plants close by. Idents still needed. Any ideas please.

This is not a very good picture but is good enough to illustrate that while watching the damselflies we noticed that this bug climbed up the stem of a plant recently added to help the dragonflies. It sat there in the sun for quite a few minutes aqnd then suddenly whent back into the water and we could see it was a Water Boatman!

and finally, this is a  small sign sent me by the Wildlife Trust which is now proudly displayed on the garden shed. Notice the fly stopped to see what it was all about!

Simon Barnes and the SPNVS

Two weeks on holiday and back home to try and catch up on the world of wildlife conservation and my Blog. Along with numerous emails and post I received my National Trust magazine today. The opinion feature sounded interesting and it was written by Simon Barnes. He wrote “How to be a bad birdwatcher” which I found an easy book to read and useful for a non bird watcher! He wants to start a new campaign to promote, “the Society for the Preservation of Nothing Very Special” or SPNVS for short. I agree with him that it is important to seek to protect living places and living things before they get special. Special usually means rare or endangered. Our four acre meadow could easily be classified by planners or developers as ordinary. Yet unimproved grasslands are already rare in the countryside and so I aim to become a member of the SPNVS.

If you too would like to join go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk, search for the digital NT magazine Autumn 2011 and Simon Barnes article is on page 15. Or of course you could join the NT as a member.

I was pleased to see how our new pond was getting on and of course it is getting on alright in my absence. The dragon fly nymphs  are still lurking in the murky water which really needs more oxygenating plants. Waterboatman are more numerous than before and a dead reddish dragonfly lies in the water. Water snails seem to be steadily demolishing it.
Walking across the lawn to the pond I noticed a small butterfly ( shown above) which I thought initially was  probably a female Common Blue. Eventually I managed to get close to it and with the help of my trusted book on UK butterflies I am convinced it is a Small Heath. That is the first time I've ever recognised one. The books says they are one of the most common butterflies in the country so I must have been very negligent in not seeing it before.  I am adding a photo of my butterfly and the unfortunate dragon fly and the dragonfly nymph

Monsters in my new pond

There be monsters about in Somerset.
Just 60 days since we filled our new garden pond with fresh rain water and I've just noticed something stirring in the silt lying on a shelf in the pond. We have only a couple of flowering plants and some floating oxyginating plants some water boatmen and black beetles and not much else. Or so I thought.
Having tried my hand at pond dipping for the first time I managed to collect an odd looking monster, very hairy and quite scary looking for anyone who doesn't like spiders for instance.
So using my friends in the Wildlife Trust and getting the best photo I could manage I have been informed that I have a dragonfly nymph, probably the Broad-bodied Chaser variety.
To back up my discovery here is my photograph.

Back from holiday

Dont forget that by clicking on the photos you should be able to make them larger.



Three weeks is a long time in the wildlife world. We came back to the UK last Thursday after a long awaited holiday, had two days to cope with being back in normality and prepare for Sunday.
The day was devoted to a Workshop event for the Somerset Private Nature Reserve Network. The subject was the importance of ponds, their value for wildlife and how to manage them. A series of speakers gave short introductions to related topics finishing with a presentation by "Pond Conservation". Just for now I'll include a couple of photos to give a flavour of the highlight for us all on a very warm and sunny afternoon. A visit to a local pond which we were not disappointed to find full of dragonflies, damselflies and much else. More detail later!