I think the small pond on my plot is leaking. Last week I topped it up with 240 litres of water (that's 24 watering cans worth; and a lot of tottering to and from the watering tank) yet yesterday I saw that the water level had dropped again to just a couple of inches. Why could this be happening? Bull rushes grow in the pond alongside water mint, speedwells and ornamental grass. 'Could they just be using all the water?' I wondered. It seemed unlikely, but I thinned the plants out to a third and then paused before starting to refill the pond: I had seen a rapid movement in the water.
I'd been looking out for the newts as I worked but thought that maybe they'd been and gone, business completed. Peering into the pond I spotted a small frog, wide eyed and cautious, one rubbery hand gripping a green stalk for stability.
I topped the pond up with water, bucket fulls of it, putting in a small exit ramp for the newts, just in case they were still about; and over the course of the early evening I watched the water level sink slowly down, along with the summer sunlight.
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