...Of pondweed and nymphs...

Yesterday, one of our troughs of pond water (from our school pond) was needed for another experiment, so we had to empty it. The water in it was pretty foul looking, and we thought quite stagnant, and devoid of life. As Deb went to tip the entire contents down the sink, she noticed some movement, which turned out to be a leach!! and 2 of these beautiful dragonfly nymphs.
Sadly I had the wrong camera with me, but we emptied the trough into an ice cream tub, and today I managed to catch the nymphs so I could take a few (dozen) shots!
So, today's blip is a Common Darter - Sympetrum striolatum nymph, presumably the offspring of the Common darters seen round the pond in September ( See September 25th Blip).
If you look, you can see the mouth parts used to fly out and catch the water beastie prey, you can also see the wing cases....real promise for our little pond next summer.
It feels so good to get back to my first love (insect macro) again,it has been a while! I am sooooo looking forward to SPRING!!!!
We will keep our pond water sample till it warms up a little, then place it carefully back into the pond.