Wildlife garden ponds are good for wildlife.
Even though you may use a synthetic material to line your pond, you are creating a very natural type of habitat. Ponds have been around for millions of years. Such a lengthy period of time has enabled a huge number of plant and animal species to become adapted to the conditions they provide. Besides those animals that live in water or on it, the rest need water to drink! So you have a great chance to observe numerous plants and animals that would otherwise not visit or live in your garden or back yard.
Diversity of pond life or fish?
If you want the diversity of life that can be found in a wildlife garden pond, please keep fish out….. make a choice fish or wildlife. Somehow fish were introduced to my pond….soon the heron saw to them though thankfully! I could not catch them being so fast!
No room for a pond? No garden?
We never had a garden nor a bathroom in my Liverpool home. A large tin bath was used and as we grew up, a visit to Picton Road Public Baths where you hired a towel, given a bar of white soap and had the private use of a huge deep bath! Eventually we had a bath, hot running water and a flushing toilet fitted upstairs! What to do with the tin bath now? It was filled with freshwater life from Sefton Park in Liverpool! My very first wildlife “gardening” (back yarding!) adventures began!
I have moved house and am considering making another pond, though somewhat smaller in my smaller garden.
There are numerous books about wildlife garden ponds. I would wholeheartedly recommend one book to you….it will answer all those questions, dispel numerous pond myths, e.g. depths, and is littered with facts you need to know. Written by experts at the charity Freshwater Habitats Trust (Formerly Pond Conservation) it makes an interesting read and a great present. Well worth the money! I bought the first and have the second edition……
The Pond Book “Using the latest research we show why ponds are so valuable for people, landscape and for wildlife, take a fresh look at a wide range of management issues and help you decide on the best solutions for your pond”.
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Gorgeous when finished and interesting seeing it being built.
Thanks Elaine. The viewing platform not only allowed me to view the fantastic wildlife in the pond, but was a lovely place to sit and watch it with a glass of mead!!
absolutely love my wildlife pond and so does the wildlife which started moving in before the pond was full of water.
yes its hard work digging the hole but once you finish it’s all left to nature with a little bit of autumn tidying by you.
with regards to the video the only thing i didn’t like was that every fence panel had a gravel board which restricts the movement of wildlife like frogs, toads, newts and hedgehogs. remove one in each side of garden and replace with a piece of 2m x 30cm trellis or some concrete blocks with gaps between them.
Hm, I thought the hedgehog holes was in that film….you may have missed it…. it is there and has been for a number of years. It also says on the film “very successful hedgehog hole”!!
https://nurturing-nature.co.uk/gardening-for-wildlife/hedgehogs-and-garden-fences-a-possible-solution/
Cheers, George