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Last night I spent a short time looking out for the newts and only saw one male, but I did spot this flatworm moving along the surface. Nearly 25mm long, I think it is Dendrocoelum lacteum. It moves quite quickly and it wasn't possible to get a 'clear shot' of it, hence the two images. Although I sometimes find this flatworm on vegetation that I take out of the pond, I rarely see it moving about like this. I've seen the first tadpoles swimming out from the shallow spawning area of the pond - I would expect to see a lot more do this in the days to come.
They have started doing this in the big pond. This picture shows seven frogs, part of a group of at least twelve, gathered under the edge of thick vegetation. The newts continue to lay eggs and even though a few have ventured into deeper water, most of the developing tadpoles still remain in concentrations in the shallow area wher the spawn was deposited by the frogs.
29 April - I haven't been neglecting my pond - I've just left it alone for a while! The tadpoles are growing well and are everywhere in the pond now. The newts can be seen active amongst the weed just under the surface and I expect that they are still egg laying. I scooped out some floating weed into a container to check it today and saw a number of newt embryos attached to Ivy-Leaved Duckweed (Lemna trisulca). I hope to get some photographs of this tomorrow.
Taking a photograph of it was a bit tricky as it swims very quickly. Every-so-often it would pause, with the tip of its abdomen breaking the surface of the water, as in the main picture, before diving again with a silvery air bubble attached. As the top picture shows, it is about 1cm long. The white marks on its back look curious. In the larger image they seem to have a definite shape, suggesting that the beetle may be playing host to something. |
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