V3 · Sonnet

When the ponds bloom

From the dyke, a white water lily and a yellow water lily are two tiny specks on a vast water surface. Change the distance and see from what point a speck starts to be a flower.

Diagram of a pond surface seen from a dyke, with two clusters of plants Original drawing, not a photograph and not a map. A wide water surface, reeds at the sides, two clusters of floating leaves marked A (white water lily) and B (yellow water lily). At the 60-degree frame scale only the flowers are drawn, at assumed diameters; the background is not to scale.

Diagram of a water surface viewed from the publicly accessible dyke (original drawing, not a photograph and not a map). The background is not to scale. At the 60° frame scale only the flowers are drawn; the white mark in the bottom right corner is 1° of the field of view. Markers A and B denote schematic clusters, not actual sites.

From the bank: how large a flower is in the frame

White water lily

13.8′ visual angle of the flower

Barely legible outline: colour and contour, no detail.

Yellow water lily

5.7′ visual angle of the flower

A patch of colour: no shape, easily mistaken for a glare or a patch of light.

8× binoculars (a model assumption) work as if you were standing 3.8 m from the flower.

I cannot see any flower here

This is the limit of recognition, not the result of a visit. The absence of a visible flower in the frame does not prove that the plants are not flowering or that the flowers have not opened. From this distance it simply cannot be settled by eye.

At 30 m: white water lily 13.8′, yellow water lily 5.7′ (the outline threshold in the model is 10′).

What helps without leaving the dyke: binoculars, a closer stretch of the publicly accessible dyke or a dated photograph. A photograph alone is also not a notice about the state of the water or about access.

A model, not a measurement. Assumed flower diameters: white water lily 12 cm, yellow water lily 5 cm (indicative values, to be confirmed by a botanist). Angle = 2·arctan(diameter ÷ (2 · distance)). The panorama frame covers 60°. Working thresholds: from 30′ the shape is readable, 10–30′ an outline, below 10′ a patch of colour; this is not a species-recognition test and not a research result. Pixels are CSS pixels of this screen.

Two details at one scale

These are drawings, not photographs: we do not have a licensed photograph of the flowers from the dyke. Both are drawn at the same scale (the bar in the corner is 5 cm at the assumed diameters), which is why the yellow water lily is clearly smaller. Choose a flower with the button or with marker A or B in the panorama.

White water lily

Nymphaea alba · species to be confirmed
Schematic drawing: a white water lily flower on the water surface A white flower with spread petals and yellow stamens rests on the water, with two floating leaves at the sides. In the corner, a bar corresponding to 5 cm. Original drawing, not a key for identifying species.
Feature from the diagram: the white flower floats on the surface of the water; the leaf is roundish. Floating leaves may appear before the flowers and remain after flowering, so leaves do not prove flowering. Bar in the corner: 5 cm (model assumption). Illustrative drawing, not a key for identifying species.

Yellow water lily

Nuphar lutea · species to be confirmed
Schematic drawing: a yellow water lily flower above the water surface A yellow, globular flower on a short stalk rises slightly above the water surface, with two floating leaves at the sides. In the corner, a bar corresponding to 5 cm, at the same scale as the white water lily drawing. Original drawing, not a key for identifying species.
Feature from the diagram: the yellow flower rises slightly above the surface of the water; the leaf is oblong-heart-shaped. Its presence in the region is confirmed by the source material, but there is no local series of flowering dates. Bar in the corner: 5 cm (model assumption, the same scale as drawing A). Illustrative drawing, not a key for identifying species.

Two dates, one record

The tool counts unique days with recorded flowering. A shared day means the same date and the same location; months without visits remain a gap in the data, not zero, and different years do not form a common season. By default an invented teaching model is shown, which is not a record of observations.

The rhythm of a fish pond

The ponds are used for fish farming, mainly carp, and the state of the water is part of this landscape [1]. Two states of the same cross-section lie side by side, without a slider.

Diagram of a pond cross-section in summer Cross-section without a depth scale: a full water surface, floating leaves with flowers on the surface, stalks leading to thick rhizomes lying in the mud on the bed.

Summer: water surface

Leaves and flowers float on the water, the rhizomes lie in the mud. Dashed line: water surface level (diagram, no depth scale).
Diagram of a pond cross-section after the water has been drained The same cross-section without water: exposed mud, fallen leaves lying on the bed, rhizomes still in the mud. The dashed line shows where the water surface was in summer.

October: bed exposed

After the water is drained, the leaves fall onto the mud, and survival is ensured by rhizomes anchored in the bed. This is a description from the V2 material, to be confirmed with the pond manager.

In October, draining the water exposes the pond bed, which ends the growing season of aquatic plants. A dated photograph and a description of the management are not a current notice about the water level: before setting out, check the current state and access with the manager.

The photograph of the autumn landscape at Stawno from V2 is not embedded here (the page works offline); the file can be viewed at [3]. It does not document flowering or the location of white water lilies.

Rules on the dyke

  1. Access: use public trails only. Entry onto fish-farm dykes requires confirmation from the pond manager and the park.
  2. Habitat: do not enter the water, the reeds or the dried-out pond bed.
  3. Plants: do not pick aquatic plants.

Limits of what is shown here

  • Diagrams, not documentation. The panorama and both details are original drawings. There are no photographs of the flowers from the dyke here, nor species identification; a botanist must confirm the species.
  • Angle model. The diameters of 12 cm and 5 cm, the 60° field, 8× binoculars and the 10′ and 30′ thresholds are model assumptions. They are not measurements or results of field research.
  • Access and water. The page does not permit entering the dyke, the water or the reeds, and gives neither the current water level nor a notice about access. Access is confirmed by the pond manager and the park.
  • Sample data. Models A and B are invented for practising counting days; they are not observations.
  • Changes relative to V2. The water-level slider has been replaced by two cross-sections side by side. The virtual binoculars have been replaced by a visual-angle model. The form for your own entries and the list of entries are in a second, collapsible layer; the record-check messages (gaps, duplicates, mixing of years, dry bed) remain visible above the month board. The printable card and the embedded photograph have been omitted; the rules from the card are in the section on the pond’s rhythm.
  • What was not checked. The links to sources were copied from V2 and were not opened for this version; this is not a certification of their content.

Sources

  1. Dolina Baryczy — Nadleśnictwo Antonin [Barycz Valley — Antonin Forest District]: flora, a limited number of stand-forming white water lily sites, pond management. To be re-checked.
  2. Wieści z lasu nr 132 — Nadleśnictwo Jarocin, sierpień 2016 [News from the forest no. 132 — Jarocin Forest District, August 2016]: general flowering period of the white water lily, June–September. To be re-checked.
  3. Wikimedia Commons: Stawy Milickie 05 (Stawno): photograph of an autumn landscape from V2, 20 October 2019, Strumyczek, licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Not embedded in V3, link only.
  4. Rijksmuseum — Closer to Johannes Vermeer: design inspiration (zooming in on a detail while keeping the whole frame), not a source of facts.

External links are ordinary links; the page loads no resources from them.