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                                                          Pondlife

 

 

         
In 2001 we decided to create a wildlife pond. I started digging and only stopped when I could no longer reach out of the deep end. It eventually measured 10’ wide by 30’ long. Not particularly large when considered as part of a 10-acre field, but large enough for two people and one wheelbarrow. The first wheelbarrow broke after 300 loads and I stopped counting after that.

We decided to line the pond with a butyl liner protected, from stones below and claws above, by some old carpet. We advertised for unwanted pieces of carpet in the local paper and received such a rapturous response we had to amend the outgoing message on our answer phone to put people off. Nevertheless the carpets have worked very well: good job really as it would be an almost impossible task to repair any punctures in the liner.

I sent off for the liner by mail order. The delivery driver thought it the height of mirth to inquire if I had a forklift truck; as the liner weighed 98 kgs. After he had dropped it off the back of his lorry onto the pavement I was left to roll it up the remaining 90’ of my driveway.

Strangely enough, once laid out over the vast crater that was to become the pond it seemed to weigh as light as a feather and even the slightest gust of wind was enough to move it out of position. Having dug all of the soil out, I then put most of it back again: to create a natural floor; which sloped from a shallow 2 – 3 inches to a depth of about 4’

We then dug up half of our lawn and arranged the turves around the edge of the pond. Over the years most of them have slipped into the water, so it’s anybody’s guess as to the current depth.

I had the idea of banking up the sides with the soil that I had dug out: to create a habitat for bees, beetles etc. to nest in. I created some nests out of old plastic tubing and dug them in. After a week either badgers or foxes had dug all of the tubes out and so we gave it up as a waste of time. We then decided that the banking didn’t really work and so we took the liner out, removed the banks and relayed everythingas flat and level as possible.

We have no source of water on the site, so we expected the pond to fill up naturally over the following winter. It actually took about 3 weeks. In fact it hardly seems to have stopped raining ever since.

We put some oxygenating weed into the pond and put marginal plants around the edges. However, after a couple of years the thing was taken over by bullrushes, which had appeared from nowhere, as if by magic. They don’t seem to have deterred the dragonflies too much. Although we don’t see them patrolling around the pond much any more, we get lots of them moving into the wood to hunt after emerging from the pond.

Sometimes, if I park my car by the pond and facing the sun, dragonflies are fooled into thinking that the windscreen is the surface of another pond. I can then sit and eat my lunch with dragonflies constantly banging on the glass; trying to get in with me.

I have thought about clearing some of the bullrushes from the pond but I think that it will be better to create a new one in another area. That way there will be a “natural” succession of habitats. Although this time I will create 1 or 2 smaller ponds: which will mean lighter pieces of liner for me to move around.

 

The rough grass around the pond sees an explosion of frogs between July and September. So many, in fact, that I now stop mowing during this period. When I resume mowing, the grass has become too long to be left lying around. I have taken to piling it up in several large heaps. This seems to have provided a good place for grass-snakes to lay their eggs. As grass-snakes mainly feed on frogs and small mammals, this area has turned into a bit of a paradise for them.

      

Pondlife