Ponds and the good things they do for wildlife
Post categories: In depth
| 19:28 UK time, Tuesday, 2 June 2009
A pond looks great in any garden. And as wetlands and ponds across the country get filled in and polluted by agricultural runoff, they are becoming increasingly important havens for our wildlife.
About a third of ponds in the UK have disappeared in the last 50 years. What's more, about 80% of those that remain are in poor condition for wildlife.
Ponds aren't just homes for lots of freshwater animals like frogs and newts, they also provide bathing water for birds and a drink for your other garden visitors.
You don't need a lot of space or money to create a wildlife pond. Even a small pond can be a watery home for invertebrates like dragonflies and water boatman. Frogs, toads and newts will prefer something over 1-2 metres in diameter.
I've been creating a pond in my garden with advice from the WWT. You can follow how it takes shape over the coming weeks and months on the WWT website. And below is the film we showed in Springwatch.
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If you want to build your own wildlife pond, the design is crucial. Here are some things to bear in mind:
- Shallow edges allow animals to get easily in and out
- Use rainwater rather than tap water to fill it if you can
- To keep the water as clean as possible, ensure soil, garden fertilisers or other chemicals can't be washed into the pond
- Use native pond plants
- Ornamental fish will eat larvae and other pond life so leave them out if you want to maximise the variety of animals in your pond
There's loads of great help and advice available from Pond Conservation, Breathing Places and Froglife.
And when you've built one and helped wildlife, why not help science? There are a number of organisations dying to find out how you get on:
Pond Conservation are running the Big Garden Pond Dip. They'd like you to look for the 10 or so types of easily recognisable animals that indicate if your pond is in good shape. All you need is a kitchen sieve and a white tray to get dipping.
The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust want to hear about the ponds and boggy areas in your garden in their Wetlands in My Back Yard survey.
The British Trust for Ornithology, Froglife and the Herpetological Conservation Trust want to hear about any reptiles and amphibians you find in your garden. Contact them to get a survey pack.
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i get mandarin duck ,teal,mallard,frogs,newts and all sorts of wildlife dragon flies , banded damwasels damsel flies and lots more
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My partner and I recently put in a planning application for a 20mx30m wildlife pond and about 3/4 of an acre of wild flower meadow + trees (currently, the land is a former farm yard, blank canvass). Unfortunately, our neighbour is opposing our application, claiming that the pond will be a breeding ground for disease carrying mosquitoes, will be an unneighbourly source of odours and will disturb the migration habits of frogs (if there currently are any) - claiming that she should not have to deal with frogs in her garden (which is about 50m away and separated from our land by a 1m deep drainage channel). Clearly this view is out of keeping with all of the sources of information listed on Kate's blog, and in my view is misguided and unfounded. Can anyone suggest a source of expertise that will ensure that the pond we wish to create is healthy and does not suffer from such problems? I note that www.pondconservation.org.uk indicates that planners should take every opportunity to create new ponds....
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I am currently acting on behalf of a client who wishes to create a 0.85 Ha area lake/pond near the top of a hill in Derbyshire with 4 Ha of new woodland planted. We understand from the Planners that the top of a hill is an inappropriate place to put a new lake. We have already created two smaller ponds at the bottom of the hill close to a natural brook. These lakes are fed by storm water from field ditch/watercourse with a sluice gate with a sceened overflow into the brook, and Planning consent was given. The land proposed for the new lake is redundant farm pasture and is close to a disused railway which is now a Nature Walkway. My client has received David Bellamy awards for his contribution to the wildlife habitats created on his land. There is a Planning Policy Document which vaguely(?) refers to pond creation but it is difficult to interpret. The Environmental Agency have also visited the site and have advised on `does & donts`. The county `wildlife trust` has also issued us with helpful leaflets and contacts. However we seem to be stymied by the Planners. Fortunately (unlike ALFENWAVE) above we have had no objections from neighbours.
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I forgot to ask did Kate have to apply for Planning permission for her pond?
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Great to see the encouragement for people to create ponds, but would you mind emphasising on the programme for people to be very careful on what plants they use as the garden centres as still selling many of the invasive species that are causing havoc in native streams and rivers etc. Maybe worth mentioning the exact names of the worst culprits?
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My pond is small but well established. I get loads of frogs, damselflies, but never newts. I do have 3 fish in there - we had to put them in as they outgrew the goldfish bowl, and each winter I keep thinking they'll die and then I can make the pond entirely wildlife. Each spring the fish pop back up unscathed, and have done for 8 years now.
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My pond's only about 5 foot across but has about a billion tadpoles every year. Also newts, lots of beetles and stuff, and occasional red damsel flies. It also acts as a drinking bowl and bath for the local birds. I can sit and stare into it for hours!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
As Kate says here, she built her pond with advice from WWT, so if you want to know more about how Kate's pond is getting on, see step-by-step pictures and find out all the do's and don'ts of building your own pond, visit WWT's pond website at www.wwt.org.uk/wimby.
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my garden is all patio and im not sure my husband would be impressed if i ripped it up for a pond lol
is there anyway i can make one with the kids old paddling pools?
would i need a pump and filter?
it would be great to have one just not sure where to start all help woiuld be appreciated thanks
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Message for prwanyone, if you look at www.wwt.org.uk/wimby and click on Kate's blog, scroll down to the 'Seb says' section under the 14 May entry and you will see advice on what plants to use in your point and which invasive species to avoid.
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My pond is 2 x 3 feet. It is at the bottom of my 'mini meadow' which has different grasses and has been left to nature. I have 3 frogs which sadly didn't spawn this year and loads of bugs. I don't have a filter and just a couple of plants.
Poshirenee - I have seen ponds made from old paddling pools but to have frogs etc. you'll need to have stones inside and out to allow access over the sheer sides of the pool. Have you also thought about trying an old belfast type sink, tin bath or baby bath?
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By the way, whats a Chuff? Ive heard of a Chiff-chaff, but not heard of a Chuff. Terry Wogan was laughing on wedneday 3rd June on breakfast show about Chris saying he'd seen his first chuff. Terry said he's 40 and only just seen his first chuff. I suppose he was being a bit rude, which is of course like Terry.
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Name for Bustard chick, Craddock. Like Fanny Craddock. Or alternatively, Annie or Danny.
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Just apology to Chris, i commented on him saying he'd seen a chuff. I checked it up and of course its actually a Chough. Sorry about that. Never too old to learn.
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reading some of the above comments i'm amazed that people wouldnt want a pond near them, frogs and toads eat all sorts of garden pests (and dont claim expenses to do so!). I recently built a pond as part of a local education programme and within a year it was overflowing with life from diving beetles to newts, the kids love pond dipping.
This year we have a problem with blanket weed any surrgestions on organic control of this, or is it just a case of trying to pull it out?
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To armadilloslim - some advice for you on organic control of blanket weed. Simply use a rake or some other means of scraping the blanket weed off the surface of the pond. Leave it on the edge of the pond to allow any creatures living in it to escape back into the pond, then when its dried out, compost it. At this time of year blanket weed is a common problem because of the high nutrient content of the pond. I'd advise you and everyone else with problems in their ponds to do WWT's WIMBY survey (wwt.org.uk/wimby) so we can get an accurate picture of the type of problems that are occuring so we can advise accordingly.
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We built a pond in our garden several years ago. Although we have coy carp in it, we still get a lot of wildlife such as pond skaters and damsalfly, which are breeding on our pond this year. We also currently have at least three frogs in our pond this year and earlier on there was a large amount of frog spawn. Although the fish eat some, some must be hatching as more spawn is laid every year and some of the frogs in our pond are quite small compared to the others, even though they all look the same.
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loved kates pond looks great.
i've got a new pond and lots of wiggly (think they are gnat larve)bugs, and i think they are eating my oxygenting plants and water lily any help would be grateful.
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I am really glad to know that we can make pond in our home also. I think this will help us to save the environment.
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We've a lovely wildlife pond in it's third year BUT we now have a resident grass snake which appears to devour frogs at a great rate. Amy ideas please
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I can thoroughly recommend the creation of a wildlife pond for the hours of pleasure that follow as well as the environmental pluses. I've made mine using Freecycle/recycle, the only cost was fuel to collect items and my time and labour.
Two years ago in my newly created 'secret' urban wildlife friendly front garden I made a raised pond (2m circular-ish pond and min of 600mm deep) from old tree trunk sections + chunks of old York stone fireplaces lined with several layers of black silage sheeting. Was given some huge chunks of mixed plants from an overgrown wildlife garden pond being re-established by a fellow Freecycler which I just dropped in. These came with water snails & other aquatic goodies so the pond quickly became active. I knew there was at least one frog in the garden (have log piles & hideaways) keeping down the slug numbers and this year a mass of frogspawn appeared. At least one frog lurks between the flooded overlapping layers of silage sheets, below tile ledges at the side walls, as have seen it there (has routes into & out of pond) plus the space harbours baby slugs, thus providing an inbuilt larder!
Late last Summer over 2 days I made a second raised pond in the back garden (rectangular 1m x 2m) using similar methods but with added feature of inbuilt raised planting boarder all round. This pond is thriving too and the many tadpoles in both ponds now have their rear legs.
My main garden birds are Blackbirds, House Sparrows & Wood Pigeons who sometimes use the pond ledges as perches for bathing off when their sunken tin birdbath water is too warm or in use! Also the Swifts which nest in neighbours eaves each year now swoop low across the garden to take advantage of the ponds' attraction for insect, especially in the warm evenings. Magical bonus!
There's no pump, filter or water feature in either of the ponds. Rain directly + collected rainwater is used to top up the water which stays clear and thankfully I have no problem with blanket weed or mozzies. Also because my gardens are surrounded by 6ft fences covered in rampant climbing plants on the garden side & privet hedge on the 'public' sides there are no cats/dogs to hassle the wildlifeI
A warm evening, a seat by the pond, a little supper and Springwatch on the Macbook screen - Bliss ;o)
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we used to have a play house in the corner of our garden and there was a little gap between it and the fence so we put some logs there to attract insects and when we took the playhouse apart (which i was glad of because there was always wasp nests in there) and moved the logs there was a frog and he had eaten all of the insects and snails that lived in the logs plus there was loads of empty snail shells he wasn't very pleased but he gladly gobbled up a giant worm i found. so thats another way to get frogs in your garden!
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I want a pond so i decided to get one for the frog in my garden, biulding it soon. :-)
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I get frogs,pond skaters,damselflies,newts,flying insects and diving beetles. Once my friend slipped in and got grabbed by pincers.
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For LazyRizzo - you have no newts because you have fish. They will predate on the eggs of newts. Also newts need vegetation to attach the eggs to. No veg + fish = no newts. Put the fish back ina abowl and donate them to a dentist or doctors surgery - they always have a fish tank! Hope that helps.
I have a 2ft x 1ft pond, no more than 2ft deep (at the deepest point) and have palmate newts, 6 huge frogs and a number of water 'bugs'. I did not introduce any of the wildlife - they found their way there from neighbouring gardens. Pond or water feature of any description will attract water loving wildlife. Including a resident Blackbird that has helped itself to the odd newt and tadpole for supper!
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I have 2 small ponds. They are on two levels. The smaller top pond is allowed to remain untouched where the bottom pond is periodically drained and replanted when the plantsa get too big.I have resident frogs in both but they only spawn in the bottom pond. Why is this? Perhaps that the top pond would dry up first if they were natural? Can anyone help?
Thank you
Rob
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we have 2 ponds in the garden, both measuring about 6 x 4m in diametr. Both are now well established and are busy with wildlife. We have got everything from damselflies, dragonflies, pond skaters, whirlygigs, boatmen, water snails, beatles and other bugs, as well as tadpoles and frogs and last week we counted about 11 smooth newts and palmate newts. we do however have 1 special frog called annie mary and is so tame that she lets us stroke her.
enjoying the programme,
thank you,
Owain and Erin, north wales.
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Can anyone help?
I have 50 plus matchstick head sized holes in my pond liner. The liner has been in place for about 8 years and they have only appeared this year. I am eager to find out what is causing this as the water level has dropped dramatically.
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hello,
We dug a new pond in our back garden earlier this year. A number of frogs immediately took up residence, and we put in some sticklebacks that had been donated to us from a friend's pond. The frogs produced lots of frogspawn, so now we have some quite chubby looking tadpoles which love swimming in the shallow parts of the pond where the water is warmer, and a lot of minute baby sticklebacks. However, we have a large population of blackbirds in our garden (during the RSPB birdcount weeked in January, I counted 10 in the garden at one time) and we are convinced that the blackbirds are now wading into the shallows, not just to have a drink and a splash about, but to scoop up the tadpoles and fish and eat them. They are so brazen about it that we have had to put a net over the top of the pond.
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Hi, all my life I have loved frogs and nature. Last year I put aside around 10 sqm of garden for a mini nature reserve introducing a pond surrounded by wild plants, piles of logs and small caves. I stocked the pond with the correct plants and also introduced a bucket of water from a local pond which had a lot of life in it. Today the pond is bursting with life and has attracted alot more birds to my garden including some I had not seen here before. I have yet to see any newts however im keeping my fingers crossed.
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i noticed small white eggs in my pond ,they were laid on some hair like, stringy green stuff which invaded my pond, I put them in a fish bowl to see what they were. I got snails ,great, i got black bugs ! don't know, and now they have grown legs, newts, then fish. Three weeks or so later the snails seem to have gone, I think someones eaten them, Will the newts be ok in the bowl ? when should i put them back in the pond, the green hair like weed has taken over. Should i put food in?
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I made a small pond, made a boggy area and planted a few plants in the hope of attracting frogs and pond insects but it has been turned into a badger wallow, I have see them walk in at one end,wallow and walk out at the other leaving a soogy trail behind - oh well I tried!
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kate hows your pound looking now.
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ref alvenwave june 2nd.thats not a pond you"re proposing,it"s a lake.why not recreate the flower meadow and put in acouple of small ponds away from your neighbours house,and try and get her involved in this.no good antagonizing people.
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To BECKETTPAUL - Kate's pond is coming on well. You can keep up to date with how her pond is developing and what wildlife it is attracting throughout the summer at www.wwt.org.uk/wimby and click on Kate's pond blog.
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Thank you springwatch and congratulations for a fantastic programme.It's the best one to date. just wounderd how Kates pond was getting on?.
Just one idea I have for an instant pond. For around about 15£ from any major DIY get a builders mixing tray They are used inside property for mixing cement and the like. They are about a 1Mtr Sq and 4" deep and very tough balck in colour,some are round so you have a choise.
They can sit on any level surface. Mine is set in the middle of the garden sunk into the ground with a bird bath in the middle.the result is large birds use the tray and the smal use the bath plus plenty of aquatic life.
The other good thing about this is it's easy to keep clean and,is a safe as it can be for children.
Also if it were installed onto a raised planter it would allow people of various abilities to access it to an otherwise alian world . Once again many thanks to all of you for a fantastic programme. Look forward to Autum watch.
Regards Pondiper
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Our pond (overgrown when we moved in) had to have a new liner and I hope I haven't thrown out too many creatures when we ditched the 2ft of mud and plants! There are newts in it but some long weed. Kate has encouraged us to persevere.
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I have a pond we made about 7 years ago (5m x 3m). Pond liner with local stone built up inside and around the pond in a haphazard natural way. About 1m deep at one end gradually stepped to 1/2m at other but with rocks and large pebbles stepped up to edge. I have 3 grass carp (7 years old) 1 goldfish 5 years old, 6 shubunkins, 6 golden orf and 6 goldfish all about 2 years old. About 50+ frogs and hundreds of tadpoles, now with rear legs, 4 newts and lots of insect life all living in harmony. I get lots of birds coming to bathe and drink. I love my pond, there is always something going on.
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Last night (28 June 09), after a torrential thunderstorm, we found about 100 little froglets massed against the base of the wall of the north face of the house. They had migrated en masse from our pond, about 80 feet away at the bottom of the garden. They even went down the side passage of the house, although it is enclosed. Today, there are hardly any froglets in sight. I guess they are all hiding, having discovered that it's safer to live a nocturnal existence. Has anyone else noticed a mass froglet migration over the past few days?
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