We had a wonderful time getting mucky in the pond at our reserve this summer. Families marched on down with wellies and nets to see what they could discover hidden in the murky depths of the pond. It was amazing how much we found – lots of fat marsh frog tadpoles, baby smooth newts, medicinal leeches, dragonfly larvae, water boatmen and diving beetles.
Many families were new to pond dipping so they had great fun exploring and learning about a world they had never encountered before. We also had the experts, with a young boy and his dad scooping up the most frog and newt tadpoles I have ever seen in one place! It’s amazing how much life thrives underneath the surface of a pond, and the number of different creatures we caught in one net was incredible.
I hope everyone had as much fun as I did, and I hope to see a few pond dippers back next year to take on the challenge of catching a marsh frog!
Dipping the net in
Looking to see what we had caught
A medicinal leech - we are one of the last places in the country to have a large population of them!
Marsh frog tadpoles, water boatmen and a water stick insect
A smooth newt tadpole
Sadly, last weeks pond dipping was cancelled due to the really bad weather we had down here. We will have more pond dipping events running next year though! Also, if you are bored of the holidays now and are itching for something to do, come and see us tomorrow at 11am when we go on a guided walk around the reserve. We will be catching bugs and doing a treasure hunt for prizes as well!