Saturday March 21st - missing

Missing tadpoles and paper

I return to my pond in high expectation of finding a mass of wriggling tadpoles, and am disappointed to discover all the frogspawn has disappeared; only a few tiny tadpoles lurk in the muddy water. Maybe they’ve swum off to hide in the shadows, more likely they’ve been eaten. I’ll have to wait to see if any frogs appear.

I’ve forgotten my stick; I find another, walk into centre of the pond, and push it as deep into the mud as I can without falling over. The depth is at least 12 inches (30.5cm), although the surface water level and circumference it covered at my last visit, 3 weeks ago, has diminished considerable. There’s hasn’t been much rain; maybe it will dry up completely over the summer.

My strips of paper are in various states of disintegration; two that I’d tied hanging low over the water have disappeared, and I spend ages wading through the pond, tracing them, dragging a stick through the mud. Eventually I manage to retrieve most, now in several pieces.

My strips of paper are in various states of disintegration; two that I’d tied hanging low over the water have disappeared. I spend ages wading through the pond, dragging a stick through the mud trying to trace them. Eventually I manage to retrieve most, now in several pieces.

On the bank I carefully re assemble and photograph the fragile paper before carrying them back to the studio to re-photograph. They’ve been absorbing the silt in the pond water; are now imprinted with textures of earth and leaves, stained brown and orange. The one hanging in the tree is still intact, as is the coiled piece hidden in the base of the tree in the centre of the pond. I leave them in place for another visit.  I have a plan to use pieces of raw canvas, which might not deteriorate so quickly.