FINALLY, THE MASSIVE ICE LAYER ON THE GARDEN POND HAS MELTED. Now we can remove the fallen oak leaves, that lay frozen all winter. The night frost may have laid a new thin ice sheet, but we can pierce through that with ease. And where the leaves are, the ice is gone, because there the shallow water is a few degrees warmer. When we pull out the first leaves, we see a mass of tiny white needles, a few millimeters in size.

(From left to right: overview, crop and microscope photo). Click to enlarge.

At first sight, the needles look rigid and lifeless, but already the curiosity of the perceptive observer is triggered. Someone with experience in the world of pond and stream might even think immediately: Spirostomum?
And behold - at a closer look we see movement. When we transfer a droplet with the needles on to a small glass plate and observe that through a magnifying glass, they appear to be elongated protozoans, swimming around. They seem to do that at a leisurely pace, and the sight of the little rods, calmly swimming and bending, can be quite hypnotising.

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