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A few years ago we attempted to create a pond in a disused part of the garden... I wanted it to become a "wildlife garden" because it's been left to grow a bit wild and the log pile is nearby.
Anyway, the pond is a total failure.. we needed to build the stream through it because in the past they've just gone stale... but the stream just brought loads of silt, and now we just have a puddle in one corner of the garden, with what looks like far too much weed growing out of it.
We let the frogs over-winter in our swimming pool because we don't chlorinate it, but when it came to cleaning it back up for summer, we have to try to move the millions of tadpoles... well i tried to straighten up the pond for them then, but it didn't work too well... suspecting they've get swept away by the stream, i kept some in a tank, but only one has survived... (this is almost 6 weeks on, and it STILL hasn't grown legs!) Anyway, that's a seperate issue... what I was going to ask was if anybody has any advice on how to sort out the pond and make it a bit more wildlife-friendly?
I can't remember what's at the bottom... it's either concrete or polythene...I think concrete... obviously this means some silt is excellent and everything, but it's just filled up the entire pond... and the whole thing has been taken over by these reed things.. they're really invasive and self seed all over the patio, so it's not a surprise they managed to take over the pond as well... it's not that big, probably only a couple of metres long, but it would be a really great place for frogs and even the local rare newts if i could just deepen it a bit (and we have a LOT of frogs around!)
Thanks!
"Watch with glittering eyes the world around you, because the best secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
Not advice I'm afraid, just encouragement to keep trying.
Our pond was for wildlife as well. Hubby just dug a hole one day while I was out. It was three feet in the middle, had ledges, but the sides went straight down. That was over 15 years ago. We have frogs all the time and, until a friend's young son decided the stickbacks were very hungry, they thrived. (We were on holiday)
We have just relined the pond. Hubby put a slight slope on the sides this time (like an embankment, it has a slope that drops straight down at water level!) and it has been a delight watching the blackbird fishing for tadpoles, and even goldfinch drinking,once they got the hang of it. It is the bird equivalent of hill climbing, but an improvement on before!
Our allotment 'hole in the ground' has newts as well as frogs, and we often see damsel flies hovering over it. This pond has a more gentle slope(he listened that time!)
Do you ever manage to swim in your pool yourself? If you have as many tadpoles as us, it must be a long job clearing them out!
Hi, I'm sure your pond will sort itself out in time, but it does need to be a mimimum size to be able to do that.
If you can get it to about 40 square feet surface area, then you only need a small section of the pond to be more than a couple of feet deep for that part to stay unfrozen in winter. I didn't check, but I assume you're in the UK.
As for the stream running through it; yes it provides fresh water and keeps it topped up, but frogs lay their eggs in still water (as far as I know).
Put in some native plants (just google for a zillion sites for names), for oxygenating and shade, etc. Frogs will spawn pretty much anywhere, but newts lay eggs on plants. My own allotment pond is not yet a year old, but I had a lot of experience with a garden pond before I moved, and had much pleasure from visiting newts and frogs.
They even tolerated ocasional dive bombings from my chickens who sometimes got over-excited by seeing me approach with food in my hand. No chooks now sadly, but I have had a few thousand tadpoles hatch this year (still got the last few a bit slow to move on).
You now have until winter to decide what to do, so just think before you do anything rash ;o)
Good luck, Hoodooman.
Thanks guys....
There's no way it's 40 square feet, it's probably not even 10! It doesn't freeze over though, because I'm in the UK channel islands, and we rarely even get snow! Anyway, I guess it's probably below the minimum size that means it'll stabilise in time... unfortunately, although we have a big garden, there's no further the pond can be expanded to... =/
I'm mostly worried that there's nowhere to put the tadpoles that hatch into the pool- if they stay there then they'll die when we chlorinate it, but i need somewhere I can put the rescued ones into to preserve my garden frog population! =/ I dont know whether to keep digging out the silt in the pond, maybe try to seperate it from the stream along the edge a bit...and whether i should cut back all the invasive reeds that have taken over the whole pond to make room for my one remaining tadpole...
if you do a google search for world of water and then go to their brochure
download the pond basics section - its got lots of info on wildlife ponds
or you can aske them to send you a copy
hope this helps
Izzy
I think this has been mentioned before on another thread but just in case you cannot find it, have a look at the Pond Conservation website. They should have lots of tips on how to manage a pond for wildlife. The autumn is the best time for doing pond maintenance, our advice pages online have some handy tips which might give you some guidance on what you could do this autumn.
Hope this helps
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Dear Woodsi,
Just a quickie regarding your pond problem, you mentioned that your pond is fed by a stream which brings in the silt. Well you have answered your own question ! Divert the stream and clear the reeds from the pond ! Then all you need to do is put in lots of of regular pond plants. Frogs like to spawn on beds of `Weedy` plants quite close to the surface - my pond had frog spawn just protruding from the water and it thrives from the heat of the sun as well as the oxygen from the plant material. You can also lay some fine mesh plastic netting on the surface of the water so that it stretches over half of the pond area, the frogs will happily spawn onto the netting so ensure that you can tie the netting in such a fashion that it will not sink more than a couple of inches below the water surface.
I hope this is some help to you !
Onaroc
Woodsi said: Thanks guys.... There's no way it's 40 square feet, it's probably not even 10! It doesn't freeze over though, because I'm in the UK channel islands, and we rarely even get snow! Anyway, I guess it's probably below the minimum size that means it'll stabilise in time... unfortunately, although we have a big garden, there's no further the pond can be expanded to... =/ I'm mostly worried that there's nowhere to put the tadpoles that hatch into the pool- if they stay there then they'll die when we chlorinate it, but i need somewhere I can put the rescued ones into to preserve my garden frog population! =/ I dont know whether to keep digging out the silt in the pond, maybe try to seperate it from the stream along the edge a bit...and whether i should cut back all the invasive reeds that have taken over the whole pond to make room for my one remaining tadpole...
Savour each moment.