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Journal How not to build a wildlife pond...

Iain Sutherland

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So having removed a few shrubs I was left with some big holes. My brain decided that if I join these together its a good way towards a pond so may as well keep digging seeing as the sun was out.

I've now realised that their is a good reason that you should really plan out a pond otherwise you'll make stupid mistakes... like being too close to the fence, the shelves being to small, location for sunlight is very important so 75% shaded is not great. All of which I'm hoping I can work around with plant choices, mostly being marginal ferns.

Having dug the hole I got on the phone to a local business and had a bunch of rocks delivered, suprisingly cheaply, as well as a next day pond liner from eBay.

In order to help the critters out I remembered seeing a you tube video ages ago about a pond build where they added a hibernarium, it looked easy enough so added one on the end of the bank.

This is as far as I've got in the build, hopefully I'll get it finished off next week.
I did order 30 odd 9cm pots of plants ready to scape it up :)

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Living in flats means no garden, so I advised my parents that they should have a pond in their garden! Took a week off work about 7 years back and dug out around 800 litres of wildlife pond with a shovel. Back breaking, but its amazing to see what it has become. My Mum is a keen gardener, so after I helped them build it she has turned it in to a wonderful planted haven for wildlife. No filtration, just a pump for the waterfall and the plants do the filtering.

This time of year is fantastic as the frogs come to breed, literally hundreds of them! Massive colony of newts in there too. The birds love it; what was really amazing to see is back in the day when the waterfall was on a timer (runs 24/7 now) was a bunch of sparrows would turn up and sit at the side of the dry waterfall at 8am every day and wait and then when the waterfall started they would all jump in :D

They even had a young moorhen turn up one year and spend a few months living around the pond. The following year, two Moorhens came back. We wonder if the original came back with a mate. The pond was not big enough for them to safely build a nest, so they left at that point, but they lived in the garden for a few months.

Another interesting visitor to the pond in recent times was a grass snake! It was seen a few times in the water, but coiled up on top of some plants towards the edge. After two sightings it has not been seen since, but apparently they do tend to move on rather than live in the same place.
 
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I'd love to build a wildlife pond but never been in one place long enough to make it worthwhile...my ultimate ambition is to one day build a natural swimming pool...in the meantime I'll have to settle for living vicariously through threads like this;)
 
I'm wishful my pond will be as nice as your sounds Wisey.

You know your in for a fun day when your bare foot in swimming trunks and it's 11c outside....

Serious Hardscaping...
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FYI big rocks and bare feet is a painful mix... worked out OK I think.
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Hi Iain,

Awesome hardscape! We did not go with as much as that, mainly due to cost on a bigger pond. One thing we did do was shelve one side off and create a beach area with shingle. From upsetting experience many years ago at a previous house which already had a pond when we moved there, hedgehogs are pretty good at falling in while searching for a drink and if there is no shallow escape, they will ultimately drown. Another thing you could try in some areas is using turf upside down to hold the liner. We stacked all the turf we removed, then around most of the pond we placed the turf on the top of the liner grass side down. The grass soon dies, but its roots give you a nice solid piece of ground. Depends on the planting style you want, but over time this has resulted in the marginal plants completely merging and growing in to the bank of the pond, gives a nice natural look.

I should also add that my folks do get regular hedgehog visitors to the pond for a drink on the beach, even if we are sat out in the garden in the evening. They are quite happy to just amble past us to get a drink and move on. I'll try and get some pictures from my folks and share them at some point.
 
Looking good...
Bare feet and large rocks though...:eek:.
Looks like you've already made a start on a boggy area as well:D

Haha, the bog garden is a good call though! We also set that up for my folks, about 20 feet from the pond and about 2 feet lower in the garden. It's another piece of liner with a few holes in for drainage. We then ran another piece of liner from the pond overflow down to the bog garden. It looks like a dry river bed, but during heavy rain it channels the overflow down to the bog area. Mum grows all sorts in there, but her Hostas on the edge of it are some of the best I have ever seen. Having hundreds of frogs living next to your hostas = almost zero slug damage! Natural predators :D
 
Hopefully some inspiration for you...

This is a shot taken last summer when everything was super overgrown! Beyond the beach, the water at the right hand end is about 4-5 feet deep to give some respite for life in the winter. The left hand end of the pond is about 2 feet deep and is mainly a planted shelf, then there are shelves around all the edges apart from the beach which is one big shelf. Just out of shot to the left we built a small area of decking and there is a conservatory here. The river bed I mention and the bog garden are at the back left out of view, the bog garden is down the side of the conservatory. I can't take any credit for the planting, that's all my Mum.

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This was about the best shot my Dad could get of the grass snake, he would dive in the water when you got too close. God knows how many frogs lost their lives to this guy!

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And another visitor who has been to the pond a few times, a Sparrowhawk!

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After seeing this thread pop up last week I've been trying to convince my wife that we should have a pond when we move house... She's scared the toddler will fall into it!


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Thats amazing wisey! Im afraid i didnt think mine though that well...
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All we did was lay out the rough shape with a hose, then I got out a spade, very little planning. It's about 7 years of evolution, with a mixture of controlling it at times and letting it do its own thing most of the time.

Looking forward to seeing yours evolve too, Iain :)
 
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