He's out there, somewhere, chomping his way through...

Heaven knows what he's doing now. He turned up last year such a tiny
button size, a brand new hatchling turtle in the one pond here with
koi tiddlers 'growing on' in it.
He spent last Summer peeking out from among the rafts of bladderwort,
scuttling off his basking spots to come and feed with the koi.
Scooting off into the foliage with his prizes...

Once in a while I'd spot the little guy rummaging around his domain, a
30'x8' pond heavily planted with some twenty varieties of plants, no
shortage of snails. there was some frogbit he was partial to, that has
gone, so it seems is the duckweed.
It puzzles me why he stays on the pond, it's a simple affair, raised
sides over a foot high, six feet from a long ditch that goes off to
the River Neuse, miles away

Perhaps he started out a pesky little 3/4" last year, now the little
guy is just under 3" and as bright as a button, it was time his
portrait was taken. A one foot deep tub was set up in a warm semi
shaded spot, perfect weather for it, in the 80's this week... with
clean water, a piece of water hyacinth to skulk about, I'll keep him
there for a couple of days, make sure I see him feed after
hibernation, plump him up a bit

Needless to say, the little guy posed well in his best stripey outfit
with matching elegant dark overcoat, quite a pose, head in, head out,
stretch those arms... strike a pose, a supermodel, of unusually high
calibre we have in the making, a natural, eat your heart out Naomi,
this one's worth their daily crust, a star....

No sooner had the new status been adorned than the little guy,
choosing to spurn the limelight, scarpers up and over the tub side
that night, and he is gone. Perhaps he decided the deluxe luxuriously
appointed cosy tub and room service was not good enough.

Something a water garden can always be relied upon for is surprises,
often simple little ones such as the toads first call of the year,
sometimes a biggy like a water lily popping it's first bud...

This little Houdini trick was not one of the good surprises. The
little guy is who knows where. All my fault, He came when he wanted
to, he did what he liked, he's gone....

The turtle trap mk.V (revised to catch smaller turtles) is set out in
the ditch with the preferred tid bit in. I dare not cut the grass,
it's grown long. Nearby tubs, buckets and undergrowth scoured for two
days... The dog recruited to sniff him out, a foot search done, grid
search done, night time vigils with kerosene lamps... Strip searching
the larger frogs was seriously considered. He could head into the
acres of woods, the long ditch, disappear across the grass, who
knows...

Such stress... I needn't have bothered... The little fella found his
own way back into the koi pond fifty feet away, navigating long grass,
a cluster of twenty tubs, a side pond, surmounting long grass, a
mountainous (by his stature) steep slope, winkled past the logs that
hold the liner down and turns up, the next time I go to feed the
koi... Paddling away like mad for attention...

Now the wonder is, shall I call him 'Radar' or, perhaps 'Homer' seeing
as the little guy seems to be into epic little adventures...

Regards, andy
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