Oooooo ... it's actually a damselfly nymph, not a lavae. Turns out the 3 feathered tail thingy is actually its gills. See, allotments are very educational.

Pretty certain I've got dragonfly nymphs too - and the good news is that they like to eat boatmen !!!! Thank goodness I don't need to rely on the dippy tadpoles.

OH put some rocks into the pond last week to help anything that falls into the pond get out. I popped up last night to water the plants in the potting shed and disturbed the local sparrow population, who were queing up around the pond, waiting for their turn to have a bath on the rock. It was so funny - wish I'd had the camera.

Got a water lily from Morrisons (complete with basket, fertilizer and stones for £3.50) and put it into the pond (thought the taddies had eaten the other one, but it was alive after all). They go bananas when anything new is added to the pond and were soon swimming excitedly around it. Unfortunately they were last seen having a nibble - wonder how long it'll last.

OH is in charge of watering this w/e ... hope he remembers. Maybe my beans will have appeared by next week - planted some Scarlet Emperor and some Yin Yang (black and white kidney beans) - they look amazing, will post picture.