Thursday 12th June 2025

On a very sticky day when it felt like it should rain, nature club met for a spot of pond dipping.  Matilda helped the younger children with a net and they used an identification guide to work out what the creatures were.  Most numerous were leeches and this caused a lot of talking about blood suckers!  The kind we get in our ponds are not the medicinal blood sucking variety (although they are related).  These were all shapes and sizes and can live for up to 6 years.  They move through suction and are related to worms- having segments.  Like a lot of the creatures in the pond, they are scavengers and feed on decaying matter, but they also eat other creatures and are carnivorous.  Amazingly, like all aquatic creatures they predate the dinosaurs, evolving 500 million years ago! There are 17 species of leeches in the UK.  Matilda got a couple of pond skaters, which were the fastest moving.  These are perfectly adapted to the pond because their spindly legs mean that they don’t sink, as their weight is evenly distributed and doesn’t break the surface tension of the pond.  Their legs are covered in tiny waterproof hairs.   We also watched a couple of bloodworms contract and elongate.  Something was moving along and seemed hidden- we think it may have been a whirligig beetle.  There were loads of midges and tiny flies.  The largest creatures were the beautiful pond snails which seem to glide effortlessly.  Everyone noticed how clear the pondwater was and that is because so many creatures feed on the decaying plant matter that they keep it clean.  t