I saw my first Emperor dragonfly of the year today, hawking over the reedbed below Ivy North Hide but after that didn’t see much in the way of wildlife beyond the families who joined me for todays “Mud Glorious Mud” event (some of whom definitely went at least a little bit feral!). With mud face painting, mud ball “catch”, painting, tie-dying, and modelling there was plenty to keep everyone busy for a couple of hours. Special mention to Dean for his tie-dye flag… It took almost as long to get cleaned up as they spent here enjoying the clay!
It’s been a busy week on the teaching front and remarkably, until yesterday at least, we managed to avoid all the showers. Wildlife sighting highlight of the week is this mysterious egg mass caught in the pond on Thursday. Like a slightly elongated jelly doughnut it is not small at about 6cm in length. The “jelly” is about 1cm in diameter and the embryo’s, laid in spirals within the mass, about 1mm in diameter. For the time being it is residing in a tank in the classroom so we can see what emerges, but in the meantime thought I’d post a picture here in case anyone can identify it for us:
What in the world…?!
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 