30th January, 2000

Two periods of very strong winds, at the weekend, caused surprisingly little damage to the trees in the grounds. In recent years, a number of trees have been brought down by such winds but, on this occasion, the only evidence that the winds had blown was a scattering of twigs beneath some trees. On Back Lane a single conker, which must have been particularly firmly attached to the tree, was also blow down, several months late.

In Great Garden, I was looking at the pond when I saw something moving along slowly just beneath the surface, causing ripples as it progressed. At first, I thought that it was a newt or a fish but, as I looked more closely, I found that it was a great diving beetle. These normally dive down to the bottom of the pond as soon as they are approached but this one did not attempt to do so and was obviously unwell. I fished it out of the pond, being very careful because I know that this type of beetle can bite, and I used it as the subject for the pictures on this page. The great diving beetle is said to be the commonest diving beetle in this country and this specimen measured 28 mm from the tip of its head to the end of its abdomen. I have seen great diving beetles in the pond in the past but have not previously managed to get a close look at one.