Pond Ponderings – Story of a Small Pond So Far, by Dan Brawn
Introducing another new writer, Dan Brawn based in Felixstowe: “In June 2017, my wife and I moved to Felixstowe and acquired a narrow elongated garden of the type traditional for a Victorian terrace house. Building work needed on the old neglected and abused Victorian house took priority, then in March 2018, I built…
Pond Ponderings: From a Redesigned Mature Pond in Suburban Suffolk!
We are so excited to introduce you to another Pond Ponderings writer – David Schenck from Suffolk. Over to David: “I have loved nature for as long as I can remember, certainly before I was old enough to go to school. I used to spend hours peering into our garden pond in the 1960’s…
Pond Ponderings: Avopond, the first summer! A tale from suburban York.
Mollie Thomas bring us an update from her unintentionally Avocado shaped pond in suburban York: Avopond has progressed quickly through the warmer months. Shortly after the last update we bought some pond plants from our local garden centre, most of which were native species. These have flourished throughout the summer, putting on great displays…
Dragonfly Champion Ruary on the trail of a ‘Flying Fossil’: the New Zealand Bush Giant!
Our very own Dragonfly Champion Ruary Mackenzie Dodds and his wife Kari de Koenigswarter have been searching through the wilds of New Zealand to study the mysterious Bush Giant Dragonfly! The pair had to install large security cameras into wild landscapes in order to film the burrow dwelling larvae of the Bush Giant. They also…
Dragonfly Delight at Rodley Hotspot Launch
We’re not quite sure what has happened but the weather behaved itself for another outdoor event! The sun shone on Rodley Nature Reserve as we all assembled our stalls early morning on Saturday. Banded Demoiselles were zipping around nearby and as the Leeds Birdfair at Rodley opened to the public crowds came in to chat…
Pond Ponderings from Scotland: Big Plot and Big Dreams!
Our second ‘Pond Ponderings’ blogger is Andrew Walker, a very keen wildlife fan based in Scotland. Andrew is lucky enough to have a large plot to work with and will be bringing us updates on how his wildlife pond and garden are faring 5 years on. In his first post below we join him at…
Pond Ponderings – from Avopond, a brand new pond in suburban York
Welcome along our first Pond Pondering bloggers Mollie and Lawrence from York! “Beginning a new garden is always exciting and was a brilliant opportunity to create a pond and make it a focal point of my very own mini nature reserve. With only a small garden, the challenge has been to create a pond substantial…
Distribution trends of European dragonflies under climate change
A new study by Tim Termatt et al examines shifts in dragonfly species distribution across Europe in response to a warming climate. Data from a total of 10 European regions and 99 species were studied and compared to changes in climate over recent decades. The results indicate that European dragonfly species are showing an overall…
Global collapse of insect populations
The Guardian has covered on a new data study reporting that global insect total mass declines by a staggering 2.5% a year. The study also claims that 40% of insect species are declining, and a third are categorised as endangered. All ecosystems rely on insects, the most diverse and abundant group of animals on the…
The Impact of Heatwaves
New research from the University of East Anglia provides insight into how climate change is impacting insect populations. The research team exposed Red Flour Beetles (Tribolium castaneum) to simulated heatwave conditions, in a lab, to explore the impact on male reproduction. While female fertility was unaffected, heatwaves halved the amount of offspring males could produce, and a second…