Pond life: Never mind the ducks, says Monty Halls- have a peek below the surface and there's a whole world of 野性生物 to 調査する

By Monty Halls

Published: 22:30 BST, 3 May 2013 | Updated: 22:30 BST, 3 May 2013

We’re all drawn to the big stuff. We want 違反ing 猫背／ザトウ鯨s and 非難する 広大な／多数の／重要な whites. We yearn for 広大な open skies and big seas, with epic 遭遇（する） after epic 遭遇（する） that we can relate to wide-注目する，もくろむd friends as they hang の上に our every word, agog with 賞賛 at our derring-do.

But this 追求（する），探索（する） for things on a grand 規模 means we’re 行方不明の something. It’s all about size, about reeling in our 期待s to a more 現実主義の level. We’re surrounded by predators, by pitched 戦う／戦いs for 生き残り, by creatures that hide まっただ中に the undergrowth and under the water, by life cycles more 説得力のある than any Hollywood movie.

The 行き詰まり，妨げる is that they’re mostly taking place on a small 規模, so we ? the junkies fed on a diet of wide-審査する, surround-sound 野性生物 spectacles ? tend to 解任する what’s 権利 under our noses.

This was brought home to me this very morning as I ambled 負かす／撃墜する to 料金d the ducks. 現実に, it was more like 中央の-morning, as I was わずかに late in my duck 義務s.

This always creates a chorus of quacking 乱暴／暴力を加える as I approach the duck house, and sure enough as I opened the door there was a flat-footed 殺到, with Baron 米国紙幣 even giving me an 怒った つつく／ペック as he waddled past.

押し進めるing thoughts of crispy duck 薄暗い sum to the 支援する of my mind, I 注ぐd the 料金d into the dish and turned to walk 支援する up the hill. What stopped me in my 跡をつけるs was Reubs, who was peering into the pond, 長，率いる on one 味方する and 黒人／ボイコット nose an インチ from the water’s surface.

Experience has taught me that he’s much better at finding 野性生物 than I am, so I crept over to see what had caught his attention. And there, peering up at him in what I can only imagine was some alarm, was a イモリ.

I've always been a fan of イモリs - 基本的に 水陸両性の lizards

< font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Go to any 団体／死体 of water larger than a puddle at this time of year, and all manner of 利益／興味ing things will be happening within. These ponds warm up very quickly when the sun 向こうずねs, and this 増加する in 気温 is the 誘発する／引き起こす for frenetic activity. These are oases, nurseries, cr?ches, predatory 円形競技場s, 井戸／弁護士席s from which all manner of life springs.

I’ve always been a fan of イモリs ? 基本的に 水陸両性の lizards ? かもしれない because the 広大な／多数の／重要な crested イモリ looks like a dragon, and to my ten-year-old mind this seemed impossibly exotic and wild. The 少しの fella eyeballing Reubs was not a 広大な／多数の／重要な crested イモリ, which is just 同様に as I would have had to run and get Tam and Isla, which would have messed with their morning 決まりきった仕事 (and I was already in trouble with the ducks).

I reached 負かす／撃墜する carefully into the water, and the イモリ slipped の上に my palm.

I’m no イモリ 専門家, but I’m pretty sure what I was 持つ／拘留するing was a palmate イモリ. We have three 種類 of イモリ in this country, the palmate 存在 the most ありふれた, and they’re all 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の. It’s our old friend 規模 again ? in the palm of my 手渡す was an animal 有能な of the most remarkable things, it’s just the fact that it’s やめる small means we tend to overlook them.

A イモリ can travel for more than a kilometre over land. It can regenerate its 注目する，もくろむs, 四肢s, spinal cord, heart and intestines, 同様に as its upper and lower jaws. It can produce toxins in its 肌 as a defence against predators, and hibernate in damp places or even in the がれき at the 底（に届く） of a pond.

What a gladiator of an animal and what a sad reflection on me that ? but for Reubs’ keen sense for something 利益／興味ing ? I would have walked straight past it.

So next time you wander past a still, 静める pond, peer in. It’s all happening in there ? tadpoles, frogs, fish, pond スケートをする人s, beetles, nymphs and イモリs. All in glorious technicolour and 3D, with no subscription 要求するd.?