Lurking in the deep

The children from Year 5 at Bournville Primary school investigated their school pond for the first time today! With great excitement they entered their wetland area and peered into what looked like a slightly murky and mini beast free zone.  The  pond was only created a year or so ago and the children were not that sure how much life it would hold.

But after a demonstration of how to dip safely we took back to the class for further investigation a wonderful array of biodiversity.  Our finds included the following:   darter dragonfly nymph, mayfly nymph, whirligig beetles, backswimmers, lesser water boatman, pond snails, blood worms, water louse 

Swimming mayfly nymph

Lesser water boatman

.... and we even caught a frog!

Whirligig beetle thanks to bugguide.net

We looked carefully at what we had caught through magnifying glasses and thought about how each species was adapted to survive in the water and whether each was a predator or a prey.

Now the children know that they have a thriving healthy freshwater pond full of a variety of life, and which they can dip in whenever they like and helps them learn all about freshwater life whilst they are rearing their trout for Trout and About.

Well done Bournville.