We’ve been away for a few days and, unexpectedly, it’s been sunny and warm at last. The waterlily was just emerging when we left and is now in full bloom for the first time, with a second bud just breaking the surface.
Here’s the bloom fully opened and also I’ve taken a shot when it just broke the surface, looking a bit like Audrey II if you’ve seen Little Shop of Horrors.
While scooping out blanket weed and topping up the pond with rainwater, I also spotted one of the adult newts and managed to capture a good clip on my phone.
Watching the newt was lovely and I also saw lots of newt tadpoles but they were either too small or too quick for me to record them.
Less lovely was the other recording I made. This one shows a damselfly being attacked by several aggressive backswimmers. Apparently backswimmers are a known threat according to Wikipedia but not mentioned in other pages.
FROG BLOG 