Pond life

Hardly a minute's walk up the glen from the car park, on the west side of the burn, you'll come across an old quarry on the left of the path. The bottom of this quarry is naturally damp, and now it contains some artificial ponds.

Alva Glen Heritage Trust commissioned the construction of these ponds to create new wetland habitats, in order to increase the range of places where plants and animals can live in Alva Glen.  This should increase the number of different living things in the glen (its biodiversity), improving its ecological health. The ponds provide not one, but four different habitats.

Pond Surface - Animals such as pond-skaters and whirligig beetles live on the surface of the water. They feed on animals which have fallen in. Sometimes there is a layer of green duckweed floating here.

Pond Bottom - Lots of animals, such as leeches and worms, live in the mud at the bottom of the pond. Some of these bottom-dwellers feed on rotting vegetation. In their turn they provide food for fish and amphibians.

Pond Margins - The greatest variety of animal species can be found in the shallow water at the edge of the pond, where they can hide in amongst the stems of plants. If you are lucky you might see a heron catching a frog for its tea!

Mid-water - Surprisingly few animals live in the open water, although plenty of phantom midge-larvae do! These larvae are transparent (for camouflage) and feed on insects which they trap with the hooks on their heads.

About a hundred years ago, the quarry revealed a grim secret...