Help - ducks have ruined our pond

jennyjelly

Last autumn we made a pond with which we want to encourage wildlife. Because it was too late in the year to put the plants in we couldn't plant it up until a few weeks ago, but everything is now growing well, and we were delighted to see mating frogs in it, followed by spawn which hatched hundreds of tadpoles.

A couple of weeks ago a pair of mallard arrived and they have been pretty much of a fixture since then. We were so delighted with our extra wildlife - if only someone had warned us! They have eaten all the tadpoles and the pond is now a dirty muddy mess with a few pecked plants in it. Having done some googling I now realise we made a terrible mistake allowing them to stay, so we have put a net over the pond and shoo them off every time they land. Hopefully they will eventually get the message and stay away.

But my question is this - will the pond recover and will the wildlife return, and if so how long is it likely to take? If anybody has any experience of our problem I would be very grateful for some advice (or even sympathy....!)

Davesnave

What is that cat of yours doing? Sitting on the sofa and watching Jeremy Kyle?

Tell it to get out there and sort those Mallards, now!

Owain_Moneysaver

Ducks are very tasty - orange sauce is traditional.

Lotus-eater

Yeah ducks will destroy anything, normally ponds in under a day.

Of course it will recover, you'll just have to wait and see how long it takes, nature is a fickle mistress.

torbrex

and you thought you had troubles when there were only two of them!

Lotus-eater

Well they can't have lived there very long! There's not one bit of duck poo on the lawn!

torbrex

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Well they can't have lived there very long! There's not one bit of duck poo on the lawn!

The house owner feeds them every day, they fly in about 6/7am and are away again by 10am.

jennyjelly

Davesnave wrote: »

What is that cat of yours doing? Sitting on the sofa and watching Jeremy Kyle?

Tell it to get out there and sort those Mallards, now!

Pretty much, lazy creature. Although he does prefer Trisha ....

jennyjelly

Want to see a pic of the troublemakers? This was the day they arrived, before they behaved so badly!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4567218635_092f13b975_b.jpg

Lotus-eater

They're cute, not sure what you're complaining about

But seriously, the pond is way too small for ducks, but nice pond though.

jennyjelly

Thank you, it's nowhere near finished yet - there will be a patio where the bricks are and a bog garden attaching to it. Will be lovely when it's all done. Hopefully with lots of frogs, toads, dragonflies etc.