Reptiles and Amphibians

Yesterday evening I sat down by the pond and realised that for the first time it was clear enough to see right to the bottom. In the past it has been very murky and we've barely been able to see the bottom of the shallow shelves we created round the sides of the pond, never mind the bottom of the pond itself. I was very pleased to see that the oxygenating plants had established themselves really well and even more pleased to see both mr and mrs newt (for the first time since we released them).

Today I sat down to look for the newts again. It took a few seconds before movement on the other side of the pond caught my eye and I realised that I was in the company of an adult slow worm. She spent around 30 minutes in the pond after we discovered her and then showed attempts to get out, which failed so we gave her a helping hand. I say we because Ian fished her out first and then five minutes later she managed to fall back in so then it was my turn. After getting out for the second time she proceeded to slither off into the undergrowth, via the underside of Ians shoe. I have that on video, but suspect it's too large to upload onto the web.

You can see that this slow worm actually has a tail (unlike the last adult we had in the pond).