Year 4 pupils from Cantref School have become the latest Young Friends of Castle Meadows.

At a recent session the 28 students enjoyed pond dipping and food chain game activities with Monmouthshire Countryside Service and Friends volunteers.

The heat-wave has proved popular not only with the youngsters but also with the inhabitants of the main pond. This year’s dip yielded a record number of species finds. Among the Cantref students discoveries were pond snails; water boatmen; frogs; sticklebacks; smooth newts; palmate newts; bloodworms; ramshorn snails; water scorpions; whirligig beetles; non biting midge larvae; hog lice; minnows; dragonfly larvae; caddis fly larvae, pond skaters; dragonfly nymphs; damselfly nymphs; water fleas, and a leech. Perhaps unsurprisingly the frogs provided the biggest interest, although the activities of the water scorpions and the leech helped reinforce the lessons of the food chain activity!