Pond life – beauty and the beast

I managed to get a short time at Falmer Pond today. Hence the first part of today's blog title.

The ducks were sleepy

But these young coots were ready for lunch

Feeding

The beastly part of the story took place in the garden pond this evening. I was watching the newts and noticed that one was remaining near the surface and seemed to be having some sort of fit. It would twitch its body rapidly before coming to rest for a few seconds, and then hurl itself around once again. This went on for about 20 minutes. On looking closer it appeared to have something attached to its face and the movement seemed to be an attempt to dislodge it. Or eat it! I can't be sure which.

Newt with nymph attached to its snout

As far as I can tell the newt eventually dislodged (or swallowed) the nymph, though it had far from an easy time of it. The nymph is one of the numerous damselfly nymphs that have emerged in the pond. This next shot shows the newt at the end of the sequence. You can see a nymph just to the right. Nymphs are among the most voracious predators in the pond but I hadn't expected to see one take on a newt! Or for the battle to be so prolonged.

Camera note: first duck photographed with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens; the rest of the water fowl were captured with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS. The newt attack was photographed with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens.

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This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Cynthia23

    10 May 2008

    Words, you have such a way with your presentation – highly delightful and informative. Thanks for the moments of relaxation.

  2. cakkleberrylane

    10 May 2008

    Wonderful glimpse into pond life!

  3. FrogBoots

    10 May 2008

    As usual, great photos…and drama to boot! :up: 🙂

  4. Vulpes vulpes

    10 May 2008

    Lovely duck shots – coots sporting trendy feather highlights! :p Interesting about the newt and the nymph!

  5. Words

    10 May 2008

    Vulpes, I'd gone in search of ducklings (there weren't any) so the coots were a nice surprise. As for the newt and the nymph, I've been looking closer and it seems that the newt is trying to eat the nymph which is hanging on by clamping its legs around the newt's face. Something of a major stand-off for quite a while. If you look really close you can see remanants of a nymph around the newt's mouth in the second shot. The nymph on the right is just a bystander!

  6. Words

    10 May 2008

    Lois, I'm amazed at how much constant activity there is the pond.

  7. Words

    10 May 2008

    Thanks Cynthia!

  8. SittingFox

    10 May 2008

    Coot chicks always look so, well, prehistoric! A long way to go before they obtain the sleek look of the adults 🙂 Great shots, all! Interesting interaction betweeen the nymph and the newt :up:

  9. Mickeyjoe-Irl

    10 May 2008

    :up: Your close ups always amaze me. I see things, like the details on the duck's bill, that I would never get the chance to in real life.

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