# Pond Life



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

No, not the estate agent kind...but the real thing.

When I moved into this house last year, I obvioulsy knew it had a pond but I never realized how much pleasure I'd personally get from it







....I spend more time at the pond than the kids do









It's teaming with taddies, toads, frogs and newts at the moment...and the dragonflies have started to appear

Two photos take a few minutes ago....

Cheers

Paul


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

Good pics,cant beat a bit of nature in your back garden


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I really miss having a garden ..... it is nice to see the pics Paul









They look like Damsel flies a smaller relation to the Dragon ..... Large Red and either a Common Blue or Azure Blue ..... really nice


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Fantastic pics Paul,

I went to a place near Leeds called Fairburn Ings on a field trip with work a few months back. It's a bit of a nature reserve really & a paradise for bird watchers but they also have pond dipping/fishing ponds & the dragon flies round there have to be seen to be believed - huge ruddy great droning things. You can certainly hear them before you see them & then, when they do appear, they are gone in a colourful blur. Itried to take some photos but they never stayed still long enough.

I may be wrong (& I'm sorry to be a bit anal here) but I think that those are Damsel flies (close relative to Dragon flies) as I don't think Dragonflies close their wings when they land - fantastic pics whatever they are - the colour of the blue one is incredible (even on my duff monitor here at work)


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

very nice pics, you are lucky to be able to get so close







,yup those are damsel flies ,smaller than a dragon fly but better colours and dont sound like a helicopter


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Thanks for educating me....I bet I forget this time next year and call them dragonflies again









There are a lot of them...


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

Where do they come from? I don't have a pond







But when it's rainy and humid my garden is overrun with these buggers. My daughter loves them.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Nice picture Mark. I love frogs and toads...and that looks like a good 'un. Or has it been prodded & poked into submission by your daughter


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

That one was particularly friendly and made no attempt to do much at all apart from sit there with her. Later, I asked where it was and she said she had "put it back"







I found it in a glass jar in the sun with a lid on.









I am going to tidy up the rear garden and see where they are all coming from.


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## blackandgolduk (Apr 25, 2005)

That's a great picture mate!

If any of your neighbours have a pond then they're known to have a little wander about, or if there was a pond in your garden at some point then the ground may still be boggyish and attract them in hot/warm weather. Similarly, if the water table is high in your area, then they'll come along for that too. I get them where I live, and none of us has a pond, but the front communal 'gardens' are pretty much left to it so there are plenty of damp places for them to hide in.

Perhaps I should pop one in with Vasuki the snake and see how they get on!


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Paul can't tell for sure from the picture ..... if it is a Common Frog ..... adults go on "walkabout" throughout the summer .... goodness knows why perhaps they are bored because they have done all their shagging in February / March







anyway, that's why they are often found a long way from ponds etc.

If it is a toad then its quite usual to find them away from water

That one looks like a beauty whatever it is









Sorry, I can be a bit of a wildlife nerd at times


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## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

MarkF said:


> I am going to tidy up the rear garden and see where they are all coming from.


Have you got any dry stone walls







? They like to hide in the cracks. I had some old bricks at the bottom of the garden found some when I started to shift them.

Needless to say. It was a good excuse to leave them there  .

I like to encourage animals and birds into the garden, unlike the neighbours who seem to exterminate anything that doesn't fit in with their sterile 'designer' plot








.

They even complained that I was feeding the birds who were then pooing on their paving







. I have a terrible urge to stick my arse over the fence and do it myself







 .


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