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OMG.....Leeches!
KeenOnGreen
Posts: 1,831
Have just discovered we have leeches in our pond. I feel a mixture of revulsion but thrilled that more wildlife is colonising it. Should we leave them or is it generally considered not to be a good thing?
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All part of nature. There are leeches in my pond, I only see them if we do a pond dipping for the kids. They're not dangerous
In the sticks near Peterborough
The kind of leeches used in medicine (still today as there is nothing better for removing poisoned blood) are extremely rare in the wild.
I thought that would be the thinking. We had virtually nothing in the pond for 2 years so l am pleased to see some life. I might use gloves the next time I'm cleaning out the weeds.
I think we saw similar recently and assumed they were Damselfly eggs. No clue what our leeches eat. I cant imagine Damselfly larvae providing them with enough blood.
When we were children there was a 'horsepond' on the neighbouring farm - we would sit on the edge and dangle our legs in trying to catch leeches - sometimes we found leeches on our legs when we got out, but disappointingly they never 'sucked our blood' enough for us to notice and we never came to any harm.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Now there's an idea! Shame my pond is only shin deep. Oh for the simple pleasures of days gone by. Give me a leech over Pokemon any day
You got to be joking....leeches are great. I imported some to my ponds as they were leech-free zones. Most leeches do not feed on humans and are pond beneficials. Some leeches feed on mosquito larvae so I'd keep em.
Any of us good enough at IT etc to invent a game where there are ponds with leeches in all over the country and we give the public clues and they go and dangle their legs and try to catch a leech ................ we could give a prize ................. could Verdun spare a donut do you think?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I read that last bit as " ...could Verdun share a donut....?"
I think we all know the answer to that one don't we?
No need to use gloves. The only species capable of sucking human blood is the medicinal leech, which is very large, very rare and very unlikely to occur in a garden pond. The small species you usually get in ponds feed on small invertebrates, not blood. If you have wild ducks visiting you could potentially get the duck leech, which sucks blood from the nasal passage of waterfowl but is harmless to humans. The commonest species is probably Erpobdella testacea, which sounds like the one described by pansyface. Completely harmless.