How do you drain/move a pond?

[lady_bug]

I know this probably sounds like a really stupid question.. But we have a small pond on our allotment which was put in by previous tenants. The only problem with it (other than the smell of yukky water) is the location of it. It's tucked away in a far corner with hedge on one side and a tree in the corner behind it, making it difficult to tidy around it without ending up in it and giving the frogs a fright.
We'd like to keep it, but somewhere else so we can keep it tidy and let the frogs keep eating all the slugs.
So basically, my question is how do we do it? Can we re-use the pond liner? Will the frogs go back to it when it is shifted?

Thank you in advance

xx

[lady_bug]

[macmac]

We want to move our frog pond at home, we keep getting frogs in our koi pond so want to re-locate it further up the garden. I'm not sure if you can re-use the liner, I've been lucky enough to win one in a competition. The last time we did it we put everything (including gunge) in buckets and put it all in the new pond. We didn't re-use the liner but if it's not damaged it may be ok. Sorry to be vague but we've been putting off doing ours 'cos we're not sure when's the best time ?

[Unwashed]

I wouldn't re-use the liner - good rubber liners only last 10 years or so, and it might not even be that good.

Just bucketing the water and mud from the old to the new will move most of the wildlife, but you'll get the bad with the good so don't be too upset when you see leeches and other unspeakable wormery.

[lady_bug]

The more we look at the pond, the more we are convinced it was put in just to keep the kids happy. The liner is wrinkled all the way round and not really held down very well, there are also no oxygenating plants in it (we've not bought any as we're thinking of just getting rid so we can use the space instead, so don't really want to waste our money).
We've been keeping it clear of all the yukky gunge and topped the water up during the heatwave.. and the local heron has had to goldfish that were in it.

[patchworkperson]

We have one like that, all wrinkles & held down with lumps of concrete, but it does have at least one frog & a few newts calling it home. There have been great crested newts found not too far away.

[GrannieAnnie]

We have never had to move a pond that had a plastic liner, but my thoughts would be:
1. move it while the weather is warm since it will be more pliable and less likely to crack.
2. if I wanted a pond (with no cost) I'd probably move the liner and try to get some more years out of it if it wasn't a huge amount of work. But I'd cut off the sides that were above water since they'd probably be brittle, then just go with a smaller pond.
3. Or, I'd follow number 2, use the old liner as a padding at the new site and spend a little money on a cheap liner since I do love a pond. We have our first pond that has a cheap liner and a second pond I dug and installed a rubber liner. Both ponds are doing well and have for many years (2001)
4. Then I'd put some barley straw in an old nylon stocking or net bag and lay that in the pond to keep the stinkin' algae away. That has worked with my pond pretty well except if there is a rapid swing in temps. in the spring. You can see our ponds in a video I finally put together for fun on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAh9UYqtJgo I've hesitated to show it on A4A because my weeding is not up to snuff! 
5. The frogs and wildlife will find your pond, no matter where you put it. At least that has happened here.

[lady_bug]

We made a decision.. or should I say the missis did.. after I'd finished digging out some weeds, she took the fork off me and started skewering the liner (and carpet under it apparently) so the water would drain away..
Not too bothered about her making the holes in the liner, I was more concerned that she'd ruin the fork