We'll call him Terry...

A stroll on Wimbledon Common led me to the Queen's Mere, a largish pond which I haven't visited for around 45 years. The area is being re-landscaped, which I'm sure will be great once it's finished, but at the moment leaves it looking rather grim.

As I walked round I took note of the usual invasive alien species amongst the wildlife, Canada geese - check, mandarin ducks - check, ring-necked parakeets - check, large unidentified terrapin - check.... what the hell?!

I really couldn't believe my eyes that this obviously abandoned pet was sunning itself at the water's edge. I phoned the rangers office to see if they were aware of it, and whether they planned to remove it - the answers to those questions were yes and no.

It seems a little strange to me that they would leave a potentially voracious predator in place, especially as there are notices posted in the area regarding the trouble they have gone to to preserve the stock of fish in the pond during a draining and dredging operation over the winter, and also given that they are clearly trying to encourage nesting ducks and other waterfowl. Makes for quite a cool blip though!