Hurray - a wildlife gardening victory has occured!
Checking out the pond the other day I discovered not one but two female Emperor dragonflies, Anax imperator, ovipositing amongst the floating Water Soldiers in the pond. Known as being a pioneer species that prefers open water habitat, Emperor Dragonflies were the very first species to colonise our wildlife pond, but they’d not been sighted in our garden in a decade.
Last year we removed the massively overgrown Water Lily that was swamping the pond so much it had formed its own island. Obviously his highness approves of the change!