Pond Skater Minibeast Adventure with Jess

Hello, Adventurers, I'm Jess.

It's time for a mini beast adventure!

# Feelers out

# What's about?

# Creeping, sleeping

# Under stones

# Here and there

# Nesting, resting

# Mini beasts are everywhere

# Mini beasts are everywhere

# Look and listen Stop and stare

# Mini beasts are everywhere

# A mini beast adventure

# Feelers out

# What's about?

# Mini beasts are everywhere

# Look and listen Stop and stare

# Mini worlds for us to share

# A mini beast adventure. #

With Jess.

I've just spotted something on the water.

Come and look at this.

Look, can you see it?

There, balancing on top of the water.

It's a pond skater.

You can see why it's called that, can't you?

It looks like it's skating on top of the pond.

If we tried to walk on water we'd just sink

but pond skaters can walk along the top.

It's hunting for food.

Pond skaters wait for little insects to fall into the water

and then use their big long legs to feel the ripples,

a bit like a spider feeling vibrations in her web.

Then it rushes over, grabs the insect and eats it.

Pond skaters can go really fast, a metre a second.

That's this far... Pow! ..in a second!

How cool is that?

I think I'd like to have a closer look.

Let's see what we have here.

Pond skaters are insects, so they have six legs.

There are four long, bendy ones,

which they use to walk along on the water,

and two shorter ones at the front,

which they use to catch small insects for their lunch.

As well as walking on water, pond skaters can also fly

and they have wings tucked away on their backs.

Pond skaters live all over the UK on ponds and other watery places,

so there's probably one living near you.

Shall we go and find one?

Come on!

Whatever the weather, we're off together on a mini beast adventure!

-Hi, Brandon. Hi, Zion.

-BOTH: Hi, Jess.

I'm so glad you're here,

because today we're going on a pond skater adventure.

-Do you know what a pond skater is?

-Yes.

Yes? Where can you find one?

In the pond.

In the pond, yes.

-Shall we go and look for a pond?

-Yes.

Great! Get your feelers ready.

ALL: Feelers out. What's about?

We're off on a mini beast adventure.

Down there - come on!

This is a lovely pond, isn't it?

What sort of things do you think live here?

One of them.

That's a pond skater.

Would you like to have a closer look at it?

-Does it have wings?

-Yes, those are wings on its back.

We need a thing so...

It can't escape.

Yeah. Shall we put some water in here first?

Got some water.

There we go. How could we get the pond skater out of the pond?

-I've found one!

-Yeah, there's one!

How can we get it out of the pond?

What about a net?

A net, yeah. I can see one!

Oh, they're so fast, aren't they?

There's one. Look, can you see it?

-Yeah.

-Right in front of the net.

-Yes! Got it!

-Put it in there.

Oh, jumped out!

Oh, did you see how well it jumped?

Look at that!

Don't escape.

He don't know where he is. He can't get out.

No, it can't get out, can it?

Is it a spider?

It does look a bit like a spider, doesn't it?

How many legs does a spider have?

Five? Ten?

Eight, yes! Spiders have eight legs.

And how many legs does this little creature have?

-Six.

-Six, yes. This is an insect.

Shall we see if we can catch some more?

-Yeah.

-Come on, then.

He missed.

I can see one.

There's one over there.

Yes! We've got two now.

Isn't that clever, how they walk on top of the water?

Can you do that?

-No.

-What happens if you stand on water?

-I would fall.

-You'd fall down, wouldn't you?

You'd go underneath the water, but they always stay on top.

It's eating the grass.

It does look like they're eating it, doesn't it?

But I think actually, they're just holding on to it.

Because can you see, under its face,

it has the thing that looks like this?

Where's that one gone? It's eating it.

Oh, is it eating that little bug?

Can you do what the pond skater's doing?

Do you think that would be yummy?

No. We don't eat grass.

When you eat your lunch, you cut it up and then you chew it.

But a pond skater has a sharp pointed beak

which he uses to stab its lunch and then suck it up.

Slurrrrp!

Mmm, greenfly smoothie!

Ponds have all kinds of creatures living in them.

We've already seen that pond skaters live on the surface.

Shall we look and see what we can see under the surface?

-BOTH: Yes.

-Yeah.

Here's a net for you, Zion.

And for you, Brandon.

Now, we need to be very, very careful.

I don't want you leaning too far over, OK?

-Do you want to see what you can get?

-Yeah.

-Zion, are you ready?

-Whoa!

Has anyone got anything?

Shall we put our nets in here and see what we've got?

-What's that?

-An umbrella.

-An umbrella?

-No, it's a worm.

It does look like a worm. It's called a leech.

Look how fast it can move. Wow!

He's hiding from us.

Whoa! I can see a spider there!

If you ever see something that looks like that

but lives under stones instead of living in a pond,

that's called a woodlouse.

-And this one?

-Waterlouse?

A waterlouse, yeah, well done.

So, this is a waterlouse.

I've got something! I've got something!

It's a frog.

It turns into a frog sometimes.

-Do you know what it's called?

-Little...

A ta...

-A tiny frog.

-A tiny frog!

Yes, it is a tiny frog, and we also call them tadpoles.

-Then they turn to frogs.

-I know tadpoles.

-Did you know that word?

-Yeah.

And then they turn to frogs.

It doesn't look much like a frog at the moment, though.

-What does it look like?

-A snail.

A snail?

-Some tadpoles have legs.

-That's right.

-No!

-No, that IS right.

So, tadpoles start looking like that, like a blob with a tail,

and then they grow some legs, and then they lose their tail,

and then they become a frog.

Isn't that amazing, that we found one of those?

I loved that mini beast adventure.

There are so many things living in and around the pond.

Maybe you could go on a pond skater adventure, too.

They live in water, so you'll have to bring a grown-up adventurer.

But if you get the opportunity to go pond dipping,

or even have a close look in a pond,

you'll be amazed at all the things you can find.

Feelers out. What's about? Happy hunting, adventurers.