Short Lived

Walking along the bottom of the cliffs at the weekend we saw a temporary pool of water. Although swelled by the recent rain pouring down from the soaked boulder clay above, the pool was indeed temporary. Lurking in the wings was the encroaching North Sea. Within the hour the tide would fill and swamp it with brine. The pool had residents. Washed down from the puddles on the cliffs were tadpoles, their short lives inextricably linked with the movements of the sun and the moon; their fate sealed.