Question
I have a small pond in my back garden. We have had newts in the pond, but no fish. At the moment we have these strange small squirmy things, which are even smaller than tadpoles, and aren't very long. They don't have any legs, and they just wiggle their tails around and are permanently at the top of the water by the surface. Not long after we got our pond I saw one there, but thought it would just disappear (since there seemed to be only one). Now there are lots of them, and they seem to reproduce fast. They also have little black spots on them. What could they be, and could they be harmful to other pond life such as our newts? Is the fact that we don't have any fish in our pond the reason there are so many of the little worm things?

Answer
Hello Katie! It sounds to me like mosquito larvae.
A goldfish or two will prevent this scourge for developing in your pond. As an alternative, there
is a product called "mosquito dunks" that you can purchase in some Garden Centers or online. These little things float in the pond and kill mosquito larvae. It is a biological product and does not harm anything else. It is strictly geared toward mosquito larvae.