Invertebrates Galore!

Since digging the 3 new wildlife ponds on The Howe last May we’ve been watching them fill with water – and attracting plenty of interest from our local wildlife.

Sightings from our volunteers and visitors have included animals large and small.

Larger mammals such as Foxes, Muntjac and Roe Deer who live on The Howe very quickly discovered the ponds as a convenient source of clean drinking water.

And we’ve had reports of lots of birds too.

Herons, Red Kites, Mallard Ducks and Canadian Geese have all been spotted visiting the ponds – not to mention many smaller native birds such as Great Tits, Dunnocks and Chiffchaffs.

But what was less clear was what creatures were actually living in and around the ponds.

So this Easter weekend around 15 volunteers, led by our amphibian and reptile expert trustee Dr Angie Julian, carried out our first formal survey.

On Saturday evening we used specialist nets and white trays to see what life could be found in the water.

Then, once it was dark we all used torches to try to spot frogs and newts, and set up microphones to listen for bats.

Overnight we set 15 bottle traps (something which only an authorised expert like Angie is legally allowed to do) and then we went back at 8am on Sunday to check and release our finds back into the ponds.

The results were really encouraging!

We spotted frogs in all 3 ponds – as well as tadpoles.

We were also joined by lots of bats swooping around us and in the trees. Although we humans can’t hear them, we could see them and pick up their calls via the specialist bat microphone equipment. Bats use echolocation as a form of “sonar,” to navigate and hunt in the dark – it was quite magical having them with us.

We also found some fabulous clean water-loving invertebrates including: Alderfly larvae, Pond Olive Mayfly larvae, Giant Water Beetle larva, some Broad-Bellied Chasers and lots of Water Beetles, Pond Skaters, Water Boatmen and Back-Swimmers.

All of which is great news as these are a sign that all are healthy thriving ponds.

We’ll be repeating our pond surveying over the coming months and years and share our findings with you – but if you see anything on The Howe then do let us know!