It’d be great if I could walk down my road, take a scenic picture of the sea and write a riveting post about what’s just there on my doorstop… Yet I live in landlocked Northamptonshire and I’m not an up and coming marine biologist so I’ve chosen to bring this title closer to home.
My ‘ocean’ for this purpose is a large water trough in the fields surrounding my dairy farm.
This is one of the few that stays filled up even when the cows are in for months in the winter. So the biodiversity it holds and supports is actually quite large. I took a trip down to see what life has remained after the winter a few days ago. It’s late August when there is the greatest display on offer, but the first few Water Boatman were floating to the surface, to then dive back down. As a kid we used to entertain ourselves by getting them to grab onto blades of grass and see how long they’d hold on for out of water till they dropped off (no Water Boatman were harmed, mind). It’s effectively a pointless exercise but it’s all considered connecting with nature isn’t it? Never did me or them any harm. Pond Skaters also hunt on the surface and choose from the easy pickings of dead bugs. A lonely Whirligig beetle whizzed around too. These amazingly have two pairs of eyes, the lower for seeing underwater and the upper pair for seeing above water! Undoubtedly this trough contains so much more, I’ll have to get a net one day and have a look. Though I won’t dig too deep as I’m not sure of what is resting at the bottom.
Apart from what’s in the water, I’ve seen a variety of bird life drink from it. The usual, like Pheasant and Pied Wagtail but also some of the owl species too, like the Tawny Owl. Mosquitoes hatch out of the murky water too which feed the Swallows which are just beginning to prepare their nest in the parlour. The ‘ocean’ is supporting its own little ecosystem which is nice to feel that we’ve created. The troughs could be considered vital in the summer as this is the only source of water for some distance around.
Also take note: if you’re a bored 6 year old the challenge of trying to get the ice sheet off the top is worth the struggle and blue hands, fun for hours!
Leanne :)