Water Blooming

I am always looking for the perfect water lily and water lily leaves in this wild pond in the Lanark Highlands, looking also for little green snakes and frogs reclining on the leaves in the sunshine, for rainbow winged dragonflies floating on the smooth dark reflecting waters.

Sometimes, a beaver swims by, or a muskrat perches on the far shoreline and peers at the blundering human on the verges of her home. Once, a visiting otter climbed on a nearby rock and regarded me with curiosity for several minutes before dismounting and swimming off toward a nearby connecting river - it yawned occasionally showing the bright red interior of its mouth and a wickedly sharp set of teeth. There is always something going on here.

Water lilies (of course) are home to many varieties of pond insect life as are their leaves, and the tiny residents make their way into every image taken. The odd perfect silvery and unattended leaf floating on the pond notwithstanding, every festooned and nibbled leaf is perfect just as it is. Little green snakes, frogs and dragonflies are wonderful, but bees, beetles, thrips and leafcutter insects are free adornments too - they are icing on the wild cake.

I need a new set of chest high rubber waders to get a little closer to them all.