A Wild Pond Teeming With Plants, Insects and Newts

We have had a large pond for many years. It was a nasty brown sludgy pond that was in our area where we kept ducks. Any bit of greenery was eaten by them. The earth around the pond was a muddy mess with very little in the way of plants surviving.

Once the last duck had passed away we decided to not get any more. This was our opportunity to rethink what we wanted to do with our pond area.

As the pond was already in place for this project I won't be outlining any of those things needed. For this part of the project mostly all you need is some plants and time. To maintain the wildlife pond you do need a plastic leaf rake, a wheelbarrow and some shears.

When the pond was first changed over from a duck pond it needed cleaning out, there was a large amount of duck poop everywhere. With some hard work from a friend the pond was cleared and cleaned, a new liner was put in place. We planted some pond plants and pond weeds to aerate the water. We laid some turf that had been left over from another job around the perimeter of the pond. At first it looked a little too manicured but it had to start somewhere and it was enjoyed by many as the plants became established!

As the pond has progressed we have had to do very little to maintain it. In fact the only maintenance it needs is to keep the brambles from taking over, keep the bindweed down as that would choke all of the other plants and keep on top of the pond weed. We were learning as we went along, it soon became obvious that one of the pond weeds was starting to fill the pond and overcrowd the other plants.

So now a couple of times a year we use a plastic garden rake (one with metal tines may damage the pond liner) and dredge some of the weed from the pond.

When removing the pond weed we tend to pile it up around the perimeter so that pond snails, newts and other insects can make their way back into the water. We leave these piles of weed for a couple of days just to make sure.

Once we are quite certain there are no critters left in the weed we pile it into a wheelbarrow and put it onto our compost heap. This weed is particularly good for composting as it is full of nitrogen.

Once our compost heaps are fully rotted down into lovely organic compost it can be used for improving soil in gardens, pots and potting up plants.

It is worth mentioning that the compost heap alone supports lots of other critters. We have a fox that likes to pick over leftovers, there are hedgehogs that come to find the worms that are present and of course a rat or two.

Now that the pond has found its balance with creatures and plants it is a lovely place to sit on a sunny day. I like to spot newts as they swim to the surface (spot the newt in the photo), there are water scudders and snails, butterflies and lots of dragon flies. I spotted a dragon fly laying eggs in the pond water next to the water Lillies.

One of my neighbours have a pair of macro binoculars. It is amazing to be able to zoom in and watch all of these creatures in minute detail.

I own a waterproof camera and along with one of my granddaughters we thought it would be fun to view what was going on in the depths. I took my camera and using elastic bands fixed it to my washing line prop. We rested it on the bottom of the pond and waiting patiently (not at all patiently!) for around 15 minutes, we could contain ourselves no longer. We were so disappointed that all we could see was green weed! This will be repeated next time the pond is dredged of weed!

With green spaces being built over for housing and industrial use our plants, animals, insects and all creatures are fighting for survival. We need more of these small spaces that are reserved for these. Not to forget us human beings need spaces to relax and reset.