Battle for pond supremacy

The pond has excelled itself today (OK, I've only had it for two weeks).

I'd gone outside with the intention of photographing Meadow Browns on the lavender, but found a battle in progress:

Broad-bodied Chaser...

versus Four-spotted Chaser

I know which one's prettier, but neither seems to have won control of the pond so far. There was a lot of chasing (as you'd expect), clashing of wings and hovering over the pond.

They were joined by three Blue-tailed Damselflies

An ovipositing pair of Azure Damselflies

The number of Pondskaters has doubled... to four. And two of those were fighting (I think).

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Creepy-crawlies

A pretty lady Meadow Brown

A dull male Meadow Brown

Green-veined White

Something clever seems to have constructed a tent from leaves and silk. Spider expert Ian Dawson tells me it's 'a web of the Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis.

'She carries her eggsac around in her jaws until ready to hatch when she attaches the eggsac to some vegetation and spins a protective silken tent over it. She normally stands guard until the young spiderlings hatch. These stay within the protection of the tent for a few days until their first moult when they disperse.

'A widespread and common spider. You often see them basking in the sun on leaves low down in early summer.including in the Lodge main border.'

The aptly-named Large Black Slug

Fly inside Bindweed

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, or Canon Powershot A640

A stag in the garden

This magnificent beast was slowly crawling around on our wall the other evening. Thanks for spotting it, John!

Lesser Stag Beetles lay their eggs in and live in dead wood, so I think it had probably come from the garden next to ours, where there's plenty of that. I'm planning to build a woodpile near the pond which will hopefully attract beetles and other creepy-crawlies.

Speaking of the pond, it's now entered the green phase, where the nutrients that have ended up in the water (from soil, plants etc) have got going and algae has started to grow. With a bit of luck, it'll settle down soon. Not having fish should make it a bit easier to keep clear.

There are hundreds of little mosquito larvae wriggling around in the pond now. That's not so good for us, but great for the bats (pipistrelles?) that hunt over the garden after dark. Dragonflies also eat mosquitoes, both above and below the water.

I was sitting by the pond this morning, eating my breakfast, when I heard and saw two Grey Wagtails fly over east. I've checked, and that's actually a garden tick. There isn't much running water nearby but they're not so fussy this time of year. Number 83 for the list.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Terns and gulls

This evening I've been helping out with some of these cute little fellows

Common Tern chick

Mark is running a project to study the Common Terns at Broom gravel pits. Tonight he made the third visit of the spring to Cocks Island (the 'Pea' prefix has mysteriously fallen off the sign). The tern chicks were fitted with unique combinations of three colour-rings, so Mark will be able to monitor where individual birds end up. We also metal-ringed the Black-headed Gull chicks.

It almost looks like a tropical island...

After we'd finished with the gulls and terns, we tried for some roosting Sand Martins.

It all looked so promising, with hundreds of birds swirling around above the reeds. Eventually they swooped down. As we made our way through the vegetation to the two nets, we didn't know what we'd see - it could have been no birds, or nets full of birds.

It was the former. Never mind.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Mosquito hawks and others

Four-spotted Chaser in poor repair

Male Banded Demoiselle, straying to The Lodge from the Ivel

Bees

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

On the line

I used to annoy my Mum by hanging bird feeders on the washing line at home, but here I don't mind if birds want to sit on the line.

Especially if they're Spotted Flycatchers

These young Swallows have been teetering on the skinny washing line this morning. There are swarms of youngsters about at the moment, so I think I might try to find a thicker line so they can perch in comfort...

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM + kitchen window

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...

Poolside

With hot weather and little time to spare, the swimming pool at The Lodge is the place to be...

I love photographing Emperor dragonflies. Above: females ovipositing (egg-laying)

Males are much harder to get a shot of

Azure Damselflies

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselflies

Four-spotted Chaser

I was buzzed by another low-flying object, so they got their picture taken

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Pond

I've been talking about getting a garden pond since last year. Yesterday, we finally finished it.


It's a bit hard to tell from the photos, but it measures 3.5m long x 2.5m wide x 0.75m deep. Last Saturday, Darren and I took up the turf. SuperMum came round on Thursday and by the evening we'd got most of the digging done. There was time for a bit more digging after tea and then we packed up for the night.

We got up at 6.15 on Friday morning and recommenced work early (stopping for tea and cake). I then proved myself incapable of even using a spirit level correctly, but we managed to get the edges just about level and put in the underlay and liner (£42 from eBay).

Mum had to leave before it was full of water, but I managed to supervise the hosepipe, trim the liner and tuck it under the turf (I had to stop and lie down on the lawn a couple of times but got there in the end).

All the soil (moved by hand in plastic tubs, without a wheelbarrow!) is in a heap in a corner of the garden, where it should provide hidey-holes for a variety of insects and maybe even some amphibians and reptiles. Indeed, before the pond even had any water in, the spoil heap attracted a male Black-tailed Skimmer.

It does bear a passing resemblance to the Big Brother logo, but this is absolutely unintentional

At one end there's a pebbly 'beach' to permit bird-bathing etc. I have caught Darren dangling his feet in it twice so far, but I think he might stop that when we get some leeches...

Less than 24 hours after the pond was filled, a Pond skater has taken up residence! Quite a few other insects have visited, but by accident...

I have not felt so tired in a long time. Now I need to talk nicely to those kind people who offered to donate pond plants...

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Little 'un

Some shots with the Canon Powershot A640, mostly as the sun was starting to set. Nice light, though

Cranesbill

Honeysuckle

Bumblebee: 'Pollen, give me more pollen!'

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640