Too wet, even for pond skaters

The weather has been awful this weekend and it seems that the torrential rain was even too much for the group of pond skaters (Gerris lacustris) that live in the water butt. Here they are sheltering on a leaf that’s blown into the water butt and is floating on the surface.

I must admit, I thought that pond skaters left the water in winter and hibernated well away from it. These individuals are adults (they have wings) so I’ll keep an eye on them and see if they do leave or whether they choose to overwinter on water.