Susanna's Wildlife Watch - August

These summer days, the new wildlife pond is not just looking good, but it has improved in terms of wildlife value. The big news is that water boatmen have moved in. 

A type of water bug, water boatmen are about a centimetre long, and have boat-shaped bodies and a pair of long legs that they use as oars. They filter mud for food, and themselves are preyed on by frogs, toads and newts, as well as by birds and dragonflies, and by dragonfly nymphs.

In the model we’re using to monitor the health of our pond, the water boatmen score 5 points. They are found in good quality ponds. It's the first time we have scored a 5. Up till now we have only scored measly 1s, for the midge larvae and mosquito larvae that we have found, worm-like creatures that can survive in any type of pond and in polluted water. Up till now, our pond was in the “can be improved” zone. 

But now that water boatmen have appeared, our total score is 1 + 5 = 6. A score of between 6 and 30 points means the pond is “quite healthy”. So we have moved off the bottom rung!   

The drone fly larvae that we found in the pond early summer were new and great to see, but they didn’t help our score, which highlights particular creatures whose presence helps determine the quality of the pond. The monitoring methodology was developed by Imperial University and the Natural History Museum, through their Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) citizen science work. There's more about OPAL pond surveys here if you are interested. 

To become a “very healthy” pond requires over 30 points. To get there, we would need more creatures that score 5, such as pond skaters and water beetles, as well as some of the big hitters eg dragonfly larvae, that score 10. 

Meanwhile, welcome to the water boatman! And a massive thank you to everyone helping with the pond, including pond dipping volunteers from LSEG and Freddie from Enstic, developing entomological acoustic technology to help identify the creatures in our pond!

Susanna