Last summer I sank a pot of Mare’s Tail (Hippuris vulgaris) into the submerged pebbles at the pond margin to help with oxygenation and to provide a playground and hiding place for pond life. Over the winter, the pot fell over and the plant rooted itself on the pond bed, growing happily in the silt and gravel, fully submerged.
This morning I spent some time exploring this deepest, shadiest area of the pond. Looking into the water, I couldn’t see much more than grey-green waving strands, a bit like soft bottle brushes. So I got the camera out again and held it close to the water surface, first at x3 magnification and then at x10 magnification. Well! There’s a lot going on.
I’ve been surprised by how much detail I can get in these clips by just holding my phone above the water. Sometimes I manage to steady my hand a little on a pebble, but mostly I’m just trying to keep as still as possible, and usually holding my breath. The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE by the way. When I bought it to replace my much older Samsung, I didn’t have blogging in mind, so this is a great bonus. Even so, after seeing what’s already possible, I’m now thinking about how I could see more if I could put a camera into the water. An opportunity for research I think and I’ll report back on that later.
FROG BLOG 