Pond Dipping

On Wednesday, after another late, restless night due to the heat – with the added bonus of Skye having a bad dream and being in tears and having absolutely no recollection of it the following morning – we got up and packed our picnic bag, gathered together a net and tubs to meet up with the beans and the manor borns for a spot of pond dipping at Hinchingbrooke Park.

Upon arrival, all the girls went off to play whilst the adults had a cup of tea in readiness for our day ahead. We managed to borrow some additional nets, tubs and pond life id sheets from the visitors centre which was rather good. We made our way round the lake to the pond dipping platform and set ourselves up for the next 4 hours! It was very hot 🙂 Various creatures were netted such as damsel nymphs, newt tadpoles (I like H’s description better – newtpoles :)), leeches, boatmen, shrimps, red mites, wiggly wormy creatures and S and P caught some rather cool swan mussels who kept poking their tongues out 😛

After our picnic lunch, and one of H’s dairy free rock cake sconey things which were complimented with the scrummy homemade jam and clotted cream, I gave all the girls sketching materials so they could draw some of the pond life they had found.

M and C had to leave a little earlier than us and the beans so shortly after their departure we packed up and walked back to the park for cold drinks and ice creams. The girls had a play on the outdoor excercise equipment then we all came back to ours H and I relaxed and chatted with a cup of tea whilst S, P, SB and BB went to feed the ducks.

After the beans had left, scrambled together something for dinner, girls bathed, tv, story and bed – another hot and clammy night 😦