One place you can always find invertebrates in winter is in ponds. More...

One place you can always find invertebrates in winter is in ponds. Only the surface usually freezes so the animal life below can see out the winter by escaping sub-zero temperatures. Aquatic wildlife is generally under-recorded so a few sweeps of the net can add valuable records. A 10 minute exploration of a local pond with a pond net revealed the following animals:

• 5 Snails: Great Pond Snail, Great Ramshorn Snail, Margined Ramshorn, Keeled Ramshorn, Finger-nail Clam
• 2 Beetles: Hydroporus palustris, Haliplus sp.
• 1 Water bug: Hesperocorixa linnaei
• 1 Damselfly larva: Large Red Damselfly
• 1 Leech: Erpobdella testacea
• 3 Crustaceans: Water Hog-louse, Water Shrimp, Daphnia sp.

David Nicholls