Pictures in water

Today, I spent some time with my camera, taking photographs of newts and tadpoles through the water. It is quite a challenge to avoid reflections on the water surface. It is also difficult to capture fast swimming creatures with a normal shutter speed. These photographs are the best of 20. The others do not merit discussion.
Some newts use their legs together to propell them through the water.
Other newts rotate their limbs alternately in a very comical fashion. It seems that free swimming is a variable skill to each newt.
I quite like the shadow of this tadpole on the stone. I was following a newt when I took this picture
Occasionally, when the surface of the pond is clear, tadpoles will swim across partly submerged water lily leaves.
We have smooth newts and palmate newts. They spend most of their time crawling in the weed looking for small invertebrates to eat. It is only when the water is clear and warm that they swim freely for brief spells, then they return to the protection of the water vegetation.