Beside the still waters

"There's a beaver pond just up the road a ways," I was told. "It overflows the road sometimes." I knew the place; the road had a gravel patch.

Reflections, beaver pond.

The pond runs along beside the road, looking more like an irregular ditch. I couldn't see a dam.

But the reflections were interesting.

Water striders skated across the surface, and a frog croaked; when I moved, there was a "Plop!" and then silence, except for the whine of hungry mosquitoes.

Further down the road, in the backwaters at Woodhus Creek, there were fewer mosquitoes, and the light was better for watching water striders.

Three water striders and a caddisfly larva underwater.

Another three. And two caddisfly larvae.

Caddisfly larvae build cases for themselves of different materials, such as pebbles, twigs, bits of leaves. These ones are using evergreen needles.

One seems to have lost his case.

Caddisflies are good indicators of river health. Most species have a low tolerance to water pollution, so a substantial caddisfly population indicates that the water is clean and has low levels of pollution. Finding caddisfly larvae indicates that the ecosystem is healthy and functioning, ... Trout feed on all stages of the caddisfly during its life cycle: larval, pupal, and adult stages. (WWF-Canada)