A prolonged bout of tonsillitis this Christmas was something of a godsend – the antibiotics kept me off the alcohol and the knives-in-the-throat feeling meant that over-consumption on the food front wasn’t possible, so I arrive in the New Year thin(nish) and fit(tish) and ready to get gardening and blogging once again.
At the moment there is a scene of devastation as the tree surgeons continue their battle to tame the legions of overgrown and dangerous leylandii I’ve inherited, but I decided that the first job to get me on the road to recovery was the clean out the concrete pond I found hidden underneath an English oak.
When I say ‘pond’, this did not include much in the way of water: year after year of fallen oak leaves had filled the pond with rotting mush.
Such conditions are not lifeless – drone-fly larvae (so-called bloodworms) will happily use such conditions. But I want a pond with spawning Frogs and dancing damselflies, so there was nothing for it but to stick my gloved arms in and hoik out the accumulated grime (and hope I didn’t find anything too gruesome).
I’d love to be able to share the smell with you, but you’ll just have to imagine it, the kind of stench that knocks you backwards and clears the sinuses.
More gunk came out of the pond than one would have thought possible. I hoped that I might at least I’d find hibernating Frogs in the mud at the bottom (newts and Toads tend to hide away in log piles and compost heaps rather than holding their breaths all winter) but I only found one and, sadly, it was badly affected by a virus, so I'm sparing you the photos.
I’ve added Rigid Hornwort, my favourite native pondweed, which will hopefully help keep the pondwater clean next spring. With the crown of the Oak now having been lifted (by removing a couple of lower branches that were dipping into the water), the pond will get much more light next year too, so it will be fascinating to see what wildlife now arrives.
If you have a pond to clear, there’s no perfect time to do it, but I’d usually recommend October. I certainly wouldn’t have attempted this clearance if the weather had been cold but in a neglected pond such as this the important thing was just to get it done. So if you've got a pond like this one to restore, go for it, but maybe buy a face mask first!
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw