Topic: Making a 'wildlife' pond

[brown thumb]

now finally decided what to do with my old ice split water butt cut off just above split  pop in ground for a pond  use top as a rhubarb forcer   sorted waste  not want not  ;D

[Aden Roller]

I've just recently acquired a pond from freecycle........I was told that to i would need a filter & pump for the fish but this can effect the true wildlife that I'm hoping to attarct to the pond.  Is it possible to have a happy medium?

It is not necessary to have a pump and filter.

I have had several ponds over the years and all have been successful. Not one had any flitration and only one had a pump for a small decorative fountain.

Providing you do not put too many fish in and you occasionally remove overgrown plants and excess silt everything should be fine.

Fish do have a habit of eating the "wildlife" but I have frogs, newts and fish that breed all in one not very large pond. I imagine the wild life would be happier without the fish though  ::)

Hope it goes well!!  :)

[brown thumb]

the large pond i have at home was basically for fish, but the wild life came to it, i never introduced  any so  fish frogs etc live to gather in harmony?

[Growing4twins]

When we were kids my dad had a big pond & that didnt have a filter in it. Just fred, our huge goldfish that my mom won @ a fair! wildlife came to that, but my worry is tadpoles, i have frogs that frequent the garden regulary (even found 1 in the green house on wednesday) & im hoping that they will use the pond to spawn. Will the fish put them off???

I have an old water feature that i was going to try & incorporate into the pond build as a seperate part for the spawn (if we get any) but im not sure if its going to be big enough.  I think its all going to be a bit of trial & error next year with this pond :/

[Aden Roller]

Nothing much puts frogs off. We've had them in our ponds for years and always had fish in there too.

The frogs are great. Before the cat/s moved in we had frogs hopping about all over the place especially in hot summers when it rained or we put the hose on the lawn (those were the days!).

Brilliant they were for keeping the slugs and pests at bay.

[Growing4twins]

Im sure my cats are blind as bats,  whist doing the garden they follow me like sheep. Frogs have jumped right in front of their faces & they didnt even flinch!!  for the frogs sake im glad :0))