Thorley from above

Thorley in the 1950’s had many things of interest for me. The small stream at the end of our houses contained hundreds of sand shrimps under the stones, and caddis fly larvae were quite often found. The bigger stream over the fields, Thorley Brook, held other delights such as sticklebacks, minnows, tadpoles and water beetles, all of which we used to catch and bring home in jam jars. One day I brought home a jar with some tadpoles and a water beetle, hoping eventually to see the tadpoles turn into frogs. The next morning I found, to my amazement, all the tadpoles had disappeared. Had they changed into frogs already and jumped out?  The water beetle, which was about 2” long, had made the most of a ready meal and eaten the tadpoles. Peter Smith b 1946