Topic: A natural Pond

[GrowingChillis]

Hi all

I am helping someone with their garden, and we have already moved a smallish pond from one place to another, it has a nice pump on it about 15 fish and a net on top.

However we are concerned that about 5 years ago there was an abundance of frogs and newts and since various work has gone on to solve drainage problems there arent as many.

The ground is clay, but now has resonable drainage. The idea is to make a nature pond at the end of the garden so the newts and frogs have a nice little retreat!

My question is how does one go about creating a nature pond? We were thinking of making it about 10 foot by 8 foot. Are initial idea is to only make it a foot deep and just to use a liner to cover a shallow hole. Would that be a viable option.
I saw on a garden prtogram they made a lake next to a stream and because they had clay ground they didnt need a pond liner, they did make a rather large pond tho
Will the pond need a pump and filter?
What kind of maintanence will it need?
What kind of plants annd animals should we introduce to it ourselves?

any help is greatly received

peter

[silly billy]

You will need to make your pond deeper than that to prevent it freezing totally at least 18" even for a wildlife pond and then have shallow edges like a beach.
You could add a pump to create alittle movement but you certainly don't have to have one and definatley not a filter.
A good tip is to find a local wildlife pond and collect some of the water in bottles and add this to your pond once youve left the newly filled pond for at least a couple of weeks prefably longer.This will help to get things moving.
You cant really introduce any animals of your own unless you can get hold of some frog spawn and water snails.Try and use Ramshorn water snails not the great pond snail.The Ramshorn is shaped like a catherine wheel.
You will be surprised how quickly things start to move in like water beetles,pondskaters and daphnea.
Definatley use a liner, clay lined ponds are prone to cracking especially when the water level drops in summer.And put some top soil into the botom of the pond, you can plant into it and it helps the pond to mature quickly.

This info will help you:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?acatid=434&aid=639
http://www.veggieglobal.com/wildlifecare/uk_ireland-ponds.htm

[GrowingChillis]

THANKS!

Thats some good advice, and those two links are really good.

I think I will start building the pond in the next week and then

do most of the planting in the spring. The smaller pond has skaters and

a couple of snails, some frogs, and when we emptied it to move it we found 2

newts aswel, so hopefully they will just prefer the nature pond and with the

exception of the snails might migrate to the new pond.

If the pond is going to be quite large do you think it is worth using a pump. or

can it be replaced with certain planting? obviously ponds in nature dont have

pumps.

I cant wait to get going on this project now, making a little wildlife sanctuary in the

suburbs! I will have to keep some pictures and post some on here at various

stages.  Thanks again for your input, any additional ideas welcome.

peter  ;D

[GrowingChillis]

I just read this on that second link.....

Goldfish or any ornamental fish and wildlife ponds just don't mix. If you want to build an ornamental pond then you are looking at the wrong web site. However, there's no reason why you shouldn't consider having both types of ponds in your garden (as long as they are at least 15 metres apart to prevent contamination of the natural pond).

the garden in question has another pond, which is about 20feet from the
site for the natural pond, do you think this will be an issue?

thanks again

[silly billy]

One of my old ponds had 3 goldfish in it and it was full of wildlife although alot of the tadpoles did get eaten.
Do you want the pump to create some movement or to run through a filter? I don't see the need for a filter as its intended for wildlife not fish.
As for the contamination im guessing they mean from fish eggs or fry or maybe chemical treatments some peeps use for algae etc.Theres no way it will be a problem for you and any wildlife pond is better than no wildlife pond.

[Margaret]

I have 2 fish ponds and one wildlife pond,not that far away from each other.The frogs sometimes overwinter in the deepest fish pond as theirs is not that deep but they do no harm,and jump out again in spring.

I would never entertain using a pump where there are frogs,newts and tadpoles.I have seen the damage a pump can do to a newt or frog and it is not pleasant.Besides,wth the right plants and oxygenating weed there is absolutely no need for one,and as you point out ,there are none in a real  nature pond in the wild!!

[KMARKSnr]

Hi Peter,All.
        My wildlife pond is now 8months old.I did all the usual things in the building of it,- liner to 18"deep,beaches,logs,oxygenating plants,weed.Lilly pad etc,etc.
        It really has become a wildlife haven,with frogs galore,skaters,daphnea,dragonflies reproducing,all manner of birds visiting to bathe,and drink.
         The best thing i did was to get water,and mud,insects,and snails, from an "established wildlife pond",and introduce it to the newly created pond of mine.I also introduced oxygenating plants,and these considerably helped the quality of the water,and clarity of the water.

                      Best wishes,
                             Regards,
                                   Mark.

[froglets]

Really encouraging Mark, ta.

[shirlton]

Hi there Mark. We have a pool and like to keep it as natural as we can. Loads of plants that make havens for water life. Don't worry about the frogs they will soon find your pond as will newts and such. We do have koi carp in our pool but they don't seem to stop the wildlife from thriving. show us some pics of your project if you can.

[Obelixx]

Our pond is just a hole scooped out to drain the rest of the garden which would otherwise be very boggy.  It's about 6 metres by 4 and almost a metre deep in the middle.   This ensures that the bottom water temperature remains above freezing for any sheltering wildlife.

We let it fill naturally and wildlife arrived by itself - frogs, toads, newts, leeches, fish, and the down side - duckweed and blanket weed on the feet of visiting birds.  I have planted the edges up with tall plants such as miscanthus zebrinus and iris sibirica so thet in summer, when the water level is low and it's not so pretty, I can't see it.   I have some very happy sagittaria sagittifolia, bog irises in various shades of purple and some marsh marigolds in the margins and we get visiting ducks, moorhens and herons.