Spring has sprung

Spring is progressing in the South of England. The snowdrops and crocus have now finished flowering



The daffodils, primroses and anemones are out




Yesterday the tadpoles emerged from their spawn - exactly one month since the spawn was laid


and today we saw our first small white butterfly of the year. Roll on summer!

Species identified

Thanks to Jeremy at the garden pond blog for identifying some of the creatures in our ponds this Spring...

The damselfly larva at the bottom of the picture is a large red damselfly, of which there are many at Frog End. The individual at the top is either a blue-tailed or an azure damselfly (though I haven't observed the latter mating here so I think it's more likely to be a blue-tailed)


This is a phantom midge larva (family Chaoboridae):

Pond Dip - March 2010

This morning I popped out for a walk round the garden during a break in the rain and couldn't resist dipping the ponds to see what I could find. As usual there were lots of newtpoles and hundreds of water slaters. I also found this adult newt, which looks like it might be pregnant:


These are damselfly larvae at different stages of development (though they could well also be different species):




If anyone can tell me what this little creature is I'd be most pleased. Unfortunately I didn't measure it, but it was probably around 5mm long:

British Waterways' Wildlife Survey 2010

Like the rest of us, British Waterways are concerned about the impacts that our recent harsh winter may have had upon animal populations in the UK.

You can help them by keeping an eye out for wildlife when visiting your local waterway and completing their online wildlife survey. They're interested in a wide range of species, from water voles to kingfishers, newts, sticklebacks and bumblebees.