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23
WHAT’S
LIVING
IN YOUR
POND –
DO THE BIG
POND DIP
“Make a garden pond and you’ll
be astonished at the wildlife you
encourage - from pond skaters and
water boatmen to dragonflies and
damselflies, frogs, toads and newts.”
Alan Titchmarsh
WHAT YOU NEED
All you need to survey your pond is a net or
sieve and a tray:
Nets or Sieves –
A small net or kitchen sieve
is perfect for getting in amongst the plants
at the edge of the pond. Don’t forget to
cut the hooks off the sieve, so that you can
get into all the little nooks and crannies
where the animals might be lurking.
A white tray
–
A white tray is best, because
it’s much easier to see pond animals
against a white background. You can
make your own tray by sticking a sheet of
white paper onto the bottom of a baking
tray. Put a centimetre of water in the tray
to keep the animals happy, but keep it
shallow so that you can see them easily.
Where to dip
To find all the different kinds of animals in
your pond, it’s important that you check
all the places they may be living in. Most
animals live at the edge, and amongst
plants, rather than in open water, so the
best places to look are:
• Grasses trailing into water
• Roots of marginal plants
• Stems and branches trailing in
the water
• Under the leaves of floating plants
• In the blanket weed
• Amongst the leaves and twigs on the
bottom of the pond
Migrant Hawker (
Aeshna mixta
)
© Paul Lacey