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In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.


My two wetland in a bottles are doing really well. The original one struggled for awhile with only the plants I added during the workshop when I learned how to make them. But I added more plants collected from our shorelines and the water is now clear and snails, hydra and water boatmen are doing well inside. The original plants are now growing well with the cleaner water. As I mentioned on Day 260, some of the plants in the other container are doing a little too well, notably the two duckweed species and the Canadian Waterweed. The duckweed plants are starting to pile on top of each other and I’m going to have to remove some. I hesitate to do this because after looking at all the hydra and other animals living in the duckweed’s roots on Day 253, I don’t want to throw them away.

I’ve been trying to find another container by visiting Goodwill periodically, but I haven’t had luck finding a suitable glass jar yet. I’m enjoying the look of the wetlands in a jar or bottle compared to a traditional aquarium, but I’d love to find another container that’s larger. The search continues.

Today I looked at both containers to see what animals I could find and I spotted water boatmen, snails, and a brown hydra among all the green hydra. I also spotted a small gathering of what I believe are scuds.

After having so much fun pond dipping and watching my wetland in a bottle, I can’t wait to get our backyard pond dug and installed.

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Kelly Brenner

Kelly Brenner

Kelly Brenner is a naturalist, writer and artist based in Seattle. She is the author of THE NATURALIST AT HOME: Projects for Discovering the Hidden World Around Us and NATURE OBSCURA: A City’s Hidden Natural World from Mountaineers Books, a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards and Pacific Northwest Book Awards. She writes articles about natural history and has bylines in Crosscut, Popular Science, National Wildlife Magazine and others. On the side she writes fiction.

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