Milky Backswimmer

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 The milky what ???

In my exploration of the pond this week I have found the most common invertebrate to be this chap - the Milky Backswimmer


The first photograph shows the view from above when it is swimming. The second photograph is the animal flipped over.  Until this week I would have called this a "water boatman" but it turns out that the water boatman swims on its front whereas these creatures swim on their backs. These are in the genus Notonecta. These creatures can sting (apparently) and the biggest number of hits on my internet search was by people troubled by these bugs in their swimming pools!

                                                                      Diary
Last night's cameras revealed one badger heading North at about 0500 hrs ( same individual caught on two cameras). I also got 90 ten second clips as a result of placing one camera too close to a rabbit burrow that was home to a large number of very active baby rabbits. Finally I have seen the first frogspawn. in our pond. It seems to be much later here than elsewhere in the valley - I have no explanation for that!





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