Steps

 

Steps

There is a steep step (40 cm) down to the patio from both our sitting room and conservatory. Many years ago, Barry built a wooden step to replace the milk crate we were using. Years later, he hammered further planks onto the wooden step, with the grooves of the wood running at a 90˚ angle to the original, as it was proving rather slippery in its old age.

Now it has reached the point of needing to be replaced completely, and we resolved to push the boat out and buy one ready-made. There’s so much more available now, and we’ve gone beyond the Heath Robinson stage of life in most things. (The last thing we built was a garden gate and it’s a solid thing of great character, not quite the height of a house door, but not far off.)

So, we have been measuring and consulting and think we’ve finally found the right thing. In fact, we’ve decided to buy two, as we’re still using a milk crate for the conservatory. Crates are remarkably strong, but with a purpose-built step, we will be more inclined to go in and out of that room more readily. Additionally, it will have a handrail, which is a Good Idea.

The other thing that is becoming increasingly rickety is the wooden bridge over the pond. It’s not a huge pond, but it is too wide to step across, and we need to be able to go over to weed and prune. We used to cross on a plank, but that became hazardous and the bridge we replaced it with has been there for a Very Long Time.

The pond is gradually clearing and looking fresher and cleaner. There is a large community of newts, which has taken the upheaval of the environment quite calmly, as far as one can tell.

 The heat last week brought proceedings to a halt. Will this now be superseded by rain to provide further disruption?

Frogs

 

Frogs

We used to have lots of frogs in our pond, all making merry in the early spring.

A few years ago, they all disappeared.

These are the only frogs we have now.

We still have newts.

The pond is somewhat overgrown, but attracts wildlife.

Damselflies

Dragonflies

. . . and other watery beasties and little creatures that come for a drink of water - they don't care if it's not crystal clear.

April A to Z blogging challenge Newts

We have common smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris) in our garden pond. The story of our first newt can be found here. I’ve also written about newts here and here.

Newts are amphibians of the Salamander family (Salamandridae) and are found in North America, Northern Europe and western Asia and Russia. They start life in water and develop into juveniles that live on land, when they are known as efts, mentioned in ‘The Water-Babies’ by Charles Kingsley – ‘ . . .these efts are nothing else but the water-babies . . .’ 

One of their most intriguing characteristics is their ability to regenerate lost or damaged limbs and organs. Scientists have studied this regeneration for decades. Humans can regenerate liver tissue but that is all.

As adults newts may be fully or semi-aquatic. Terrestrial newts return to the water each year to breed, generally during June and July. The fertilised female lays 7 to 12 single eggs each day and usually places them on the leaves of pond plants. The leaves are often folded over and stuck to the eggs to protect them. One female may lay 400 eggs in the breeding season.

The eggs hatch in about three weeks and the tadpoles eat algae, small invertebrates and other tadpoles. They absorb oxygen directly from the water through feathery gills. After ten weeks they have metamorphosed into air-breathing efts with lungs. They are capable of reproduction at three years.

On a quiet summer day it is possible to hear a ‘popping’ sound as a newt comes to the pond surface for air. It is always a cause for delight when newts are seen – they seem to be shy, retiring creatures and with their olive green or khaki colouring they are well camouflaged in a pond busy with other, more readily spotted inhabitants and habitués.