Sunday, April 26, 2009

Pond dipping

I entered an alien world this afternoon. After ordering a pond dipping kit from Alana Ecology about a month ago, I felt the time was right to put it to use. Here are some of the mindboggling creatures I found.


Wiggly thing
Wiggly thing - fly larva?

Beetle larva
Beetle larva

Baby Backswimmer
Baby Backswimmer - a perfect minature version of its parents, but about 3mm across

Snail
Snail

Caddis fly larva?
What's this? A Caddis Fly larva? The rolled up thing it lives in is about 35mm long. Comically, it swims around the pond inside its little tube. If you know what it is, please leave a comment

More photos on Flickr

If you have a garden pond, all this can be yours for about £15. Do it, you won't regret it!

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

5 comments:

  1. I led my class of 4th Graders in a pond dipping exercise with microscope viewing, but not quite as good as yours. Great pics! I will share with the class on the Smartboard.

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  2. Hi Sean, that's great! If you would like some bigger images to use, I can send you some. I've never grown out of pond-dipping :o)

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  3. Great pictures Bogbumper. I think the wiggly thing might be the larva of the midge Chaoborus aka the 'phantom larva'

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  4. Thanks for the ID, Greenfingers.

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  5. Great photos. I've recently been trying to photograph some of these creatures myself recently with mixed success.

    I can give you some IDs:
    1. Phantom midge larva (as previously suggested)
    2.Diving beetle larva (the long neck suggests it could be Acilius sp.)
    4. Ramshorn snail
    5. Is a caddisfly larvae - wouldn't like to guess a species or even a genus though!

    Can you tell I ID pond creatures as part of my job! lol

    If you looking for a good pond ID book Collins Pocket Guide 'freshwater life' is pretty good

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