Another small miracle
A couple of months ago, it rained heavily, filling up (among many other things) an old plastic fishtank that was on the back step beside the bin, waiting to be taken to the dump on our next recycling run.
Then the sun came out and a couple of days later the buddleia was looking a bit dry, so I went to dump the rainwater out of the old tank onto the buddleia, but as a lifelong naturalist I couldn't help peering into the water first just to see whether anything was moving in it.
And something was... tiny bobbing white dots... so the tank was replaced on the back step and the buddleia was watered with something else.
The dots, as I'd hoped, turned out to be none other than good ol' Triops, hatched from eggs in the sand in the old tank, which had been out in the garden for two years getting dried out and then frozen, which was probably exactly what was required.
We peaked at seven... there has been egg-laying and much nibbling of fish food, carrot peelings and one another, so we are now down to three and one of those is looking a bit dodgy (swimming in circles upside down is never a good sign)... but I am delighted to have raised another generation and I hope that if the sand is dried out and frozen again then there may be more in a future summer.
Amazing little creatures, I'm very glad to have made their acquaintance!
Then the sun came out and a couple of days later the buddleia was looking a bit dry, so I went to dump the rainwater out of the old tank onto the buddleia, but as a lifelong naturalist I couldn't help peering into the water first just to see whether anything was moving in it.
And something was... tiny bobbing white dots... so the tank was replaced on the back step and the buddleia was watered with something else.
The dots, as I'd hoped, turned out to be none other than good ol' Triops, hatched from eggs in the sand in the old tank, which had been out in the garden for two years getting dried out and then frozen, which was probably exactly what was required.
We peaked at seven... there has been egg-laying and much nibbling of fish food, carrot peelings and one another, so we are now down to three and one of those is looking a bit dodgy (swimming in circles upside down is never a good sign)... but I am delighted to have raised another generation and I hope that if the sand is dried out and frozen again then there may be more in a future summer.
Amazing little creatures, I'm very glad to have made their acquaintance!