Pond Life

I have a clear winner this week for my nature highlight after I spotted my first frog in the garden pond.

Here it is.

Already excited, I then saw, a couple of days later, a second, so there are at least two frogs.

When I created the pond I had high hopes of attracting frogs, but after a blank spring without any frogspawn, I had began to doubt. But, predictably, it’s just been a question of time, you can’t rush nature.

What I’ve also seen this week, whilst spending time watching the pond, are lots and lots of damselflies. These are quite small, quite slim flying insects that love being around and over water. They’re quite easy to distinguish from dragonflies, which are much bigger. Even I would say ‘wow factor’ huge.

The damselflies are much more delicate and although I saw some last year they’re far more abundant this year. The damselflies I’ve been watching this week have often been locked together as a couple, which means they’re mating. They fly around and then land, typically on the leaves of a pond plant, all the while connected to each other. The female, the bottom fly, will then lay her eggs just under the surface of the water.

I’m not at all a photographer but I tried to get a decent picture, below is the best I could manage.