Diary: April 2003

This morning I found two new arrivals in the pond. Firstly I noticed, for the first time, hundreds of tiny water fleas (perhaps Daphnia) - a very useful addition to any pond, serving as food for many other animals. Also I saw a couple of water snails - one small (about 4mm long) and one large (about 20mm long): their general shape showed characterstics of the great pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis). Quite how a snail that large arrived unnoticed I'm not so sure - it might have been transferred with vegetation from the old pond, though I've never noticed snails in there.

A closer inspection of the recently arrived pond skaters (Gerris lacustris) showed them all to be adults with fully developed wings, so they could have arrived under their own steam.