pond creatures

[Ukwildlifeo]

1. Sounds like daphnia/water fleas, but could also be cyclops

2. Newt tadpoles are yellow-ornage in colour where as frog tadpoles are dark brown. Newt eggs are laid individually wraped in a leaf usually, where as frog spawn is laid in big clumps.

[gerard Le Saffre]

Good morning all,
A FROG! A FROG!
One of my neighbours told me that he had never seen a frog in his pond.(He has had one for years)
This morning, as my wife and daughter and I were sitting round the pond watching things, we saw a frog!!!
It is about 4 cm long, nose tip to rump, greyish-brown and appears to be wearing horizontally striped tights, alternately dark grey and light brown. Any ideas what it might be? Still there this evening.
This discovery is making me think about the eggs in the pond. There are more and more small clusters of them, but no tadpoles yet. How long does it take for them to "see the light"? Could they be frogs' eggs, in spite of the fact that they do not look like what I have seen on the net?
Another thing.
I noticed at the same time a small (1 cm long) thing that was fairly darting around the place. It was a kind of "transparent grey". and made me think of a very young fish. Could it be? And, if it is, how do I deal with it? Let it be? It is all in the natural process of life, I know, but do I really want one in a natural pond? All the birds in the area seem to come for a bath every day, (I have a blakbird with a white wing feather, and I see it in the water almost every day), so I assume one of them may have imported an egg.
The small beasties that might be Daphnia are increasing and multiplying like mad. The damselfly nymphs are quite visible. When do they produce?
Yet another thing,
Sometimes, when there has been no rain for a few days, there is a kind of oily sheen on the pond. It disappears with the rain. Could this be due to the rotting vegetation at the bottom of the pond? The water is crystal-clear.
Looking forwards to ideas and comments,
Regards,
Gerard

[Wild-Woman]

The damselfly nymphs will probably emerge into their adult phase (which is very short in comparison) during the summer months. Watch out for blue/red or maybe green damselfly adults around the pond edge or ovapositing, sometimes in tandem.

[gerard Le Saffre]

Friday April 8th.
A NEWT, A NEWT!!!
Seen in the pond today. grey/blue on top, orange underside. What is it?
Three days after the frog. Things are moving, except for the eggs, that are not showing any sign of hatching. And yet, there are more and more of them. First ones sighted on March 10th.
What is happening? Could it be that eggs are laid without having been fertilized? Is the water too cold, or am I just being impatient?
Regards,
Gerard

[doorframe]

Hi Gerard.

Arn't wildlife ponds wonderfull!! Always something new to take your breath away. I don't think your eggs are infertile. If they were I'd expect the black centre to turn white within a week of laying and then go 'furry', at which point I'd remove it/them from the pond. Unfortunately my own wildlife pond has become a hatchery for fish fry from my main pond, and the growing fishies (together with the ever increasing number of newts) make quite short work of the poor tadpoles.

Roy

[dampflippers]

A smooth or palmate newt egg iin a folded water forgetmenot leaf.

What country are you in?

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by dampflippers

A smooth or palmate newt egg iin a folded water forgetmenot leaf.

What country are you in?

You really should not pick leaves with newt eggs on them you will make it easy for the egg for predation to take place.

[dampflippers]

It was during a survey- I made sure I put it back in the pond and under other leaves so it would not float and dry out. Otherwise I agree. It is better just to spot folded leaves and know there will be a newt egg of some type in it. I opened this one (only) to check which type it was.

[dampflippers]

This is a photo shows a typical folded leaf containing a newt egg.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by dampflippers

This is a photo shows a typical folded leaf containing a newt egg.

Can you tell from the egg what newt it came from then.
I though it was illegal to disturb them or the eggs but if your doing surveys with a proper organisation then you should state this as others who are less knowledgeable or out on their own will think its OK to pick folded leaves to investigate if there is an egg wrapped up.
We have a lot of new comers to the site at this time of year and it is the breeding season.