In my back garden in Warden Hill, Cheltenham I have used an old white Belfast style sink to create a water feature. This has been in-situ for around 5 years, so I’d say is ‘mature’. Initially I filled it with rain water, placed in some local rocks (to allow larger animals to escape if they fell in) and then ‘kick-started’ it with some water from a local pond (which included some pond weed and a few snails). For the last couple of years I’ve noticed the moults of damsel flies and this year just happened to be outside recently when I noticed the latest nymphs climbing up the reeds and changing to adults. They are not brilliant photographs (I’d left my good camera at work and these are from my iPhone), but are not too bad. I think they are Large Red Damselfies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). It just goes to show that nature will find a way!
