| Lazing in your deck chair on a warm summers day, gin | | | | Snails nearly always find their way to the garden pond, |
| and tonic in hand, observing what's going on in and | | | | possibly from stray eggs stuck to birds feet. The |
| around your beautifully designed wildlife pool is a true | | | | Common Pond Snail is great fun, you can watch them |
| pleasure, no doubt. But have you ever taken the time | | | | 'surf' the surface of the pond upside down, from one |
| to find out more about whats going on beneath that | | | | side to the other. Of course, there are lots of other |
| calm and tranquil surface? A complex and diverse | | | | underwater beasties you may find, such as the Caddis |
| ecosystem can be found thriving there, an underwater | | | | Fly Larvae, Mayfly Nymphs, Water Spiders, leeches |
| savannah with grazers, predators and scavengers all | | | | and many many more. All providing sustenance for the |
| locked in a daily fight for survival. | | | | larger animals up the food chain, the frogs, dragonflies, |
| From the bottom of the food chain up, we begin with | | | | fish and birds we all know and love. |
| the copepods, small shrimp-like crustaceans that come | | | | A good way to spot some of the smaller denizens of |
| in thousands of shapes & sizes. They have a | | | | your deep is to get a large coffee jar upside down |
| hard ectoskeleton and feed on bacteria, algae and tiny | | | | & plunge it into the water to about half your pond |
| single-celled organisms. Pond Skaters are familiar to | | | | depth, preferably near some vegetation. Turn it over to |
| most people, covered in water repellant hair they can | | | | expel the air and place in a cool place out of direct |
| can run very fast indeed, catching and devouring small | | | | sunlight for a while for it to settle. A time spent with a |
| insects that fall on the waters surface. Water Beetles | | | | magnifying glass can be very interesting and will help |
| also may take up residence in your pond, many | | | | you appreciate the variety and complexity of life you |
| species that vary a lot in size and aggression. Larger | | | | can help to survive. |
| species can hunt small fish and can be very fierce. | | | | |