Making a wildlife pond

zzzLazyDaisy

As I understand it, the beasties have to be able to hibernate safely, and for that they need a sufficient depth. Even if your pond has half an inch of ice, that is enough to suffocate the wildlife if they can't get deep enough down to enable them to hibernate properly.

But it doesn't have to be a large area. My pond is oval and the deep part is in the middle of the large end (if that makes sense). Then the pond slopes gently to gravelled 'beaches'. So most of the pond is actually much shallower than 3 feet.

My pond was installed someone who was really knowledgable about wildlife ponds, so I trusted his expertise and let him get on with it.

jennyjelly

Lotus-eater wrote: »

If you're going to the bother of digging it and sorting it all out, going to the proper depth seems a good idea

That's a very good point!

jennyjelly

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

My pond was installed someone who was really knowledgable about wildlife ponds, so I trusted his expertise and let him get on with it.

I'd like to get someone in who knows what they are doing but DH is determined to do it himself! I'll make him read this thread so he understands the reasons for the depth.

rhiwfield

Jennyjelly,

Good for you on planning a wildlife pond.

Our council have produced an excellent series of wildlife guides and this LINK is the one for ponds.

We had to move ours to a new site two years back and its a bit too shaded and small to be ideal. We were able to leave long grass nearby and log and stone heaps to encourage amphibians. We also have a garage downspout linked to the pond so there is no need to top up in very dry spells.

No fish, but we get frogs, toads and dragonflies, and its a pit stop for all the birds wanting a wash and brush up

zzzLazyDaisy

I second the advice about size and siting of the pond. It really needs to be in the sun because the water beasties like to sun themselves, also shade probably means trees/leaves, and that is not a good combination (they get into the pond and then they rot and ferment on the bottom).

Re the size - mine is 10 feet long by about 4 feet at its widest point (it is a rough oval). If anything, in retrospect I would have had it a bit bigger..... but having said that, I have a big enough garden to take it and even a tiny pond/barrel/container will attract wildlife into the garden.

PS there is one HUGE advantage to having a pond.... it is that much area that does not need to be mowed

jennyjelly

Rhiwfield, thanks very much for the link, what a great little leaflet! I note there are also several sites mentioned on it which I will be checking out.

You obviously have a much more helpful council than we do just across the Severn from you!

jennyjelly

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I second the advice about size and siting of the pond. It really needs to be in the sun because the water beasties like to sun themselves, also shade probably means trees/leaves, and that is not a good combination (they get into the pond and then they rot and ferment on the bottom).

Re the size - mine is 10 feet long by about 4 feet at its widest point (it is a rough oval). If anything, in retrospect I would have had it a bit bigger..... but having said that, I have a big enough garden to take it and even a tiny pond/barrel/container will attract wildlife into the garden.

PS there is one HUGE advantage to having a pond.... it is that much area that does not need to be mowed

Our garden is only small (10m x 9m) so we can't go too mad with the size of the pond - we are thinking about 2m x 1m - does that sound big enough? Lots of people say they have great success with just a half barrel or something so I guess anything is better than nothing!

And I LOVE the idea of less mowing!

jennyjelly

Just in case anyone else is following this thread with the intention of making a WL pond, here is another really good link which I found on the one that rhiwfield posted.

http://www.froglife.org/justaddwater/just_add_water.pdf

laurel7172

Make sure the pond has at least one side with a shallow shelf or gentle enough slope that wildlife can get out if it falls in, and birds can bathe and drink. I built my pond about five years ago using a butyl liner-much easier than trying to dig a hole to fit a rigid pond-and it more or less looks after itself. All I've done that's helped that along, I think is that I put in lots of plants. Lots and lots and lots of plants. The water went green when it was first installed, but I sorted that out with a packet of barley straw rather than chemicals. I know I've been more lucky than clever, but...plants. Lots of them.

mary-op

Our wild life pond has been in for around 6 years now and is a total joy to have............frogs love it and it sort of takes care of itself as we planted a lot of perennials and wild flowers in that area. Does need a bit of drastic thinning out now but it's a lovely place of 'calm' -far enough away from the house to have peace and quiet.
We used an old carpet and then put the liner on top of that.
Good luck..........enjoy it