Wat Tyler pond life

[pressld2]

Like many others I've been enjoying the photos that Neil (Ukwildlifeo) has been posting here recently and today he kindly agreed to let me join him for a photo session over at Wat Tyler Country Park.

It was a spur of the moment thing so we suffered a bit from excess bubbles in the water. Tap water is chlorinated so really needs to be left to stand for 24 hours or more to let the chlorine evaporate off. Otherwise it contantly forms bubbles on the glass and on the pond life. I've had to do a lot of editing work on some of the photos as a result.

Just ten minutes dipping turned up some fabulous beasts including quite a few backswimmers...



...several water hog-lice or water slaters...



...and three or four broad-bodied chaser nymphs - my first sight of dragonfly nymphs in the flesh...



We also had a great silver beetle and loads of phantom midge nymphs, but I'm still working on cleaning those photos up.

Dave P.

[Farplace]

What fantastic pictures. thanks for sharing them.
Jan

[diggleken]

Very nice Dave.
I know you like to get down low, but underwater too..........?
Cheers
Ken

[Deb London]

Ha, ha.

The Notonecta sp. looks like it's made of gold. I caught one in my pond two days ago and mine was just a plain old drab brown colour on the back.

Lovely images, the lighting really makes them something special.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the water beetle. I have a bit of a secret thing about water beetles.

Thanks for posting these images Dave.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Cracking stuff Dave. I already regret agreeing to help you out!

I try get some of mine up in a bit

[Ukwildlifeo]

Here are mine.

Britains biggest beetle species: great silver water beetle


Peashell cockle


Backswimmer


After getting these I got nudged on to the bubble tank so this broad bodied chaser has a marble behind his head

[tom00_uk]

Originally Posted by pressld2

It was a spur of the moment thing so we suffered a bit from excess bubbles in the water. Tap water is chlorinated so really needs to be left to stand for 24 hours or more to let the chlorine evaporate off. Otherwise it contantly forms bubbles on the glass and on the pond life. I've had to do a lot of editing work on some of the photos as a result.

even 24 hours is probably not enough time for the choline to leave the water and many water company's now use chloramines. Since both chloramine and chlorine are toxic to aquatic organisms care to avoid exposure should be taken.

and a side-note caddis larvae are also sensitive to fluorides

[pressld2]

Thanks for the comments folks!

Nice shots neil - the ones from your tank are definitely the best.

Originally Posted by tom00_uk

even 24 hours is probably not enough time for the choline to leave the water and many water company's now use chloramines. Since both chloramine and chlorine are toxic to aquatic organisms care to avoid exposure should be taken.

Thanks for the advice Tom. Do you know how long it takes for all the nasties to evaporate off from something like 5 litres of tap water? Should we be using a water conditioner to improve things or should we go the whole hog and use mineral water? I've heard that there are some unpleasant things lurking in mineral water too.

The water in Neil's tank had been standing for days so we didn't have the bubble problem there. It was just me that was un-prepared. Nothing was in my tank for very long so hopefully no harm done.

Dave P.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Britain's biggest beetle species: great silver water beetle

Second only to the Stag Beetle

Cheers,

Adam

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Second only to the Stag Beetle

Cheers,

Adam

Depends who youm ask and how you measure it. Mind you now he's getting on a bit Paul McCartney is probably the biggest