Lining pond with papers
After digging big hole we lined it with a couple of inches of newspapers which we'd scrounged all summer.
After digging big hole we lined it with a couple of inches of newspapers which we'd scrounged all summer.
Resisting the urge to make a cheap Mexican bandito gag about 'underlay! underlay!' is very hard.
This is the pinnacle of the walling art in progress. No seriously it's SUPPOSED to look like that. Its 'naturalistic'...
All the most auithoritative books say you should plant ferns in the dark...ahem. It obviously didn't work on this little beauty (which I acquired from my mother - and which is why I don't know what it is) which hated this bright, dry, sunny location (hmmm I wonder why). You will be pleased to hear it has been rehomed in a loving tender moist (ish) shady (sort of) semi-woodland bed. Where it is thriving.
We planted the pond plants with some ceremony. I had to get in the pond on a very cold, wet day, and yes it was mysteriously algae ridden and really horrible to look it.
Getting in was a lot worse though. My nephew and niece looked on at their slightly mad uncle with curiosity. My parents, who've seen it all before talked about their holiday plans. nicole just laughed.
And the damselflies were busy making romantic shapes in the long grass...
This doesn't really do justice to the enormous fly-beast ponderously walking around the tops of the Flowering Rush flowers. It didn't even bother to fly between them - it just reached out until it could wobble over to the next flower.
This smooth newt larva was accidentally collected while clearing some of the blanket weed which was smothering the pond. I photographed it in a glass tank I made for this purpose using an overhead light with a daylight bulb. It still has external gills but has developed all four limbs. Pigment spots have started to develop but it is still largely transluscent and the internal organs are clearly visible. The presence of so many newt larvae is a good sign, although it may simply reflect the number of frog larvae there are for them to eat as adults!