Pond's progress

The big hole in the garden has made progress since we filled it with water last Friday and it became a pond.

• The pondskater has been joined by another
• Water beetles have arrived, presumably on the wind
  
• Some other beetles have fallen in and been rescued by me
  
• Our local Goldfinches seem to love bathing in the shallow end
• Swallows have swooped over it
• Blue-tailed Damselflies have been seen nearby

The main event this week has been the installation of a load of plants that were donated by some of my kind colleagues - thankyou, Derek, Sarah and Susan. I've got a couple of water soldiers, lots of water mint, some water forget-me-not, some brooklime, some rushy things and other stuff which I can't remember the names of. Some ramshorn snails and lots of water lice hitched a ride with the plants.

Today, while I was fiddling around with bits of hessian, string, aquatic compost and pebbles, a female Broad-bodied Chaser arrived. She flew low over the water before carefully dabbing her rear end into the water and laying eggs. Result!

Now we just need to wait two or three years for dragonflies to emerge...