not quite the surf… Lifeguard

Author Koh Lin ◦

After my umpteenth rescue, it appeared to me that I was like a surf lifesaver, except without the surfboard, or the surf… ok so there was no beach, and it was just a swimming pool… so may be just a pool lifesaver…

It is not common that you get to work and see a pink unicorn in the swimming pool… especially one that did not need saving… it was only all the other little critters that I would spy in the water, struggling to extract themselves from the tension of the pool surface… is that gold I can see in the water…

Having just been rescued from the swimming pool, this Potter Wasp seemed to just want to pose… although likely it was just getting over the shock of being in the swimming pool, then being rescued and place gently on a rock to dry out…

I saw struggling in the water what appeared to be a tiny, tiny fly, so I gently scooped it out of the swimming pool. On closer inspection, I suddenly realised it was not a fly but a beautiful native bee…

First I thought it was a worm… although it was a really long worm. Carefully I fished it out of the pool, and then a quick look on the internet, I found out it was a blind snake. It was safely released away from the pool.

It is not the first time I had rescued the beautiful Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp from the swimming pool. Retrieving this one with the pool net, I would gently place her on the nearby rose bush to finish drying out.

I have seen the Water Scorpion in the pool twice over the years. Whilst they did not seem to be in danger of drowning, it was appropriate that I took them out of the pool and drop them into the nearby fish pond.

We would often get small butterflies in the pool, and occasional the larger ones. Usually I would be too late to save them, but in this case, I was able to rescue a battered winged Meadow Argus Butterfly. I let it dry off perched on a broken branch, and then it flew away.

One of our most common pool rescues are the European Honey Bee. Many seem to be attracted to the water, even though there is plenty of other water sources around such as the fish ponds and the bird baths.

Often, I would rescue a species that I did not know… and despite turning to the wonderful Facebook insect groups and iNaturalistAU, they still have not been fully ID, with some only having a considered guess at the family and/or genus level… following are two of these rescued insects…

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