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The skies
the limit… (members pond dipping
event)
On two sunny weekends in August, At-Bristol visitors got the
special chance to take part in an afternoon of pond dipping. What made
this event particularly unusual is that At-Bristol’s ponds are situated
four storeys up – right on the top floor of Wildwalk.
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The roof-top ponds were filled two
years ago and have been maturing slowly. The At-Bristol Live
Exhibits team added plants and water from established wildlife ponds
(with prior permission, of course!). This
water included some small animals, including water fleas, leeches,
insect larvae, aquatic worms and pond snails. No fish, frogs or
other vertebrates (animals with backbones) were added to the ponds. |
Two years later, the ponds are teeming with life. Some animals have
found their own way to the ponds, including several species of dragon
and damselfly.
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The At-Bristol pond-dippers quickly
got to grips with their nets and pond trays
- and used biological keys to help identify the animals they
caught. Some keen-eyed dippers even spotted the empty cases of
dragonfly nymphs, left behind on the reeds after dragonflies had
hatched from their hard exoskeletons. |
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See the virtual gallery below for drawings of some of the animals we
found, click on the images to see the full size
picture.
Damselfly
nymph
Marie Fletcher |
Dragonflies
Natasha Wallis |
Dragonfly
D Jango |
Freshwater shrimp
Marie Fletcher |
Pond snail
Helen Jones |
Worm and Caddis fly
Helen Jones |
Ramshorn snail
Marie Fletcher |
Pond snail
Sian Baker |
Dragonfly exoskeleton
Jamie Carter |
Dragonfly larva
Arthur |
Lesser waterboatman
Mark Jones |
Pond snail and Waterboatman
Daniel Wills |
Phantom midge larva
Laura Wallis |
Lesser waterboatman
Matthew Wills |
Waterboatman
Daniel |
Dragonfly
Stephen Alderton |
Waterboatmen
Marie Fletcher |
Leech
Owen Baker |
Waterboatmen
Kitty |
Pond snail
Stephen Alderton |
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