Making a new wildlife pond

[Plot70]

There was an old bath on my allotment when I took it over in December.
The previous plot holder had given up because the top soil is not deep enough.
I delved in with a wrecking bar and got it in as an overflow pool for the shed water butt.
I have added a wiggly line of silicone rubber for frogs to climb in and out and provided plants with leaves that hang into the water for sheltered entering and leaving.
A single frog has arrived so far.

[Babru]

Still too cold for proper gardening so more work round the pond, I was pleasantly surprised to receive my order of pond plants, so they were placed in the water, they do look lonely, over £40's worth and you have to play hunt the plant, I hope they spread out a bit.
The edges of the pond are almost done, I have created a trench with the liner then placed in it and backfilled with soil to create a bog garden round the edge.
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I love the mossy stones you are using for edging. Very beautiful.

[burnie]

The stones have been in the garden since we bought it, they used to mark a circle round the old apple trees, until I had to chop them down last Autumn. Once there a few plants growing over and through them I hope they will give a natural look.

[burnie]

An update shot with some plants slowly growing and the blanket weed not growing slowly, if that was edible I'd be setting up a stall at the farmers market lol

[peanut]

That looks fantastic Burnie! I hope to get a wildlife pond in this Autumn, like you I've got a bath to use for the deepest bit.

[burnie]

Use a spirit level to get it straight is the best advice I could offer.

[annie8]

I just built a wee pond last week. Best thing so far is that I put some watercress and it has already rooted. A Hoverfly is spending lots of time around it and there are tiny creatures in it today which I think might be some kind of insect larvae.

[burnie]

Remember to give the watercress a proper wash if you harvest any to eat.

[annie8]

Will do but hadn’t been thinking of harvesting it. It was for some cover and oxygenation in the water. Certainly the pond started a bit murky and muddy but now is pretty clear.

[Plot70]

Mine has stayed murky and muddy as a large common frog keeps jumping in and out and spends quite a lot of time rooting around in the bottom stirring up the silt at the bottom.
It gets topped up if the water but fills otherwise I have to let some rain water from the hose.
I seeded it with some green water out of a very old water butt.
There were a lot of mosquito grubs in there until some red figure eights appeared. I think these are sun fly lava.
Sun flies do look like hover flies and I have seen them flying over the water.
https://www.ispotnature.org/communit...haired-sun-fly

[burnie]

We have some awesome Damsel fly larvae, no idea where they came from as we've not seen any adults around, they are fearsome predators and growing like mad.

[annie8]

Wondering if the wee wriggly things might be mosquito larvae. That seems quite common in newly created ponds.

[Plot70]

I know what mosquito lava look like.
The numbers declined once the red lava appeared so they will be eating them.
There is a large common frog that spends a lot of time around my pond. It spends a lot of time diving and resting at the bottom of the rubber ladder I created.
Toads just jump in and after a dip work there way round to the ladder and climb out again.
The frog will certainly enjoy eating some of the adult insects and may even have a go at some of the lava.

[burnie]

As well as the terrestrial insect larvae, we now have diving beetles, water boatman, snails and pond skaters breeding in the pond, fascinating watching the water.

[Plot70]

Today there was lots of flies that can land on the water as well as hard surfaces.