I plunge my hand deep into our miniature pond to scoop some mud and water into my little sample pot. The water is winter cold and, apart from a few blood worms and a charcoal-coloured snail, it looks inert to my eye. On the way back into the house, I pick up a piece of moss that’s dropped from the roof and which I’ll soak for another sample. The world is in the palm of my hand: likely species from each of the animal kingdoms. Plantae, animalia, fungi, protista and prokaryotae.