We're Making a Wildlife Pond

Filling up today.


We bought the liner from Bradshaws and decided to use the brown side up, thinking it looks more like mud, than the glarey black. My intention is to get some native oxygenating plants and put them in soon to keep the pond healthy over the winter. I'll leave most of the planting until next spring. Can anyone recommend an online pond plant supplier, specifically one who specialises in British and European natives good for wildlife ponds. There isn't such a supplier near me.

 

When I put all my native plants into the pond, I went around all the local farmers and asked if I could have some of theirs. The invariable answer was "Take the lot".

That's Bog Bean, Weeping Sedge, Purple Loosestrife, Canary Reed Grass, Bulrushes, Flowering Rush, Water Mint, Yellow Iris, Marsh Marigold, Meadowsweet, Bird's Foot Trefoil, Forget me not, etc, etc,. The only non-natives are Water Lilies.

But I'm thinking of adding non-local plants this year, though.

 

Bank Holiday weekend fun making the pond; pond makers at the end of a very hot day.



Making the dam which will lead to the boggy marginal end.

The dam end finished.

 

@kindredspirit : That's a good list of native plants. Did you have any worries about Bulrushes piercing the pond liner?

Have managed to scrounge some water mint from a field edge and a friend has given me Bogbean, yellow flag iris, a water Lilly and marsh marigold. I spent quite a bit on oxygenators. Beetles, water boatmen, pond skaters and toads have arrived. Damselflies are already laying eggs on the water and Goldfinches are drinking from the edge. It's great to see.

 

Hi Redwing,

I didn't use a liner because my pond is too big (cost!) so I built it out of concrete with glass fibres and waterproofer mixed into it. Every pond expert who has arrived has said that concrete ponds eventually crack with the seasonal movement of the soil so I have all ten fingers and all ten toes permanently crossed.

I do know that reeds will pierce a pond liner so maybe sink a plastic cattle trough into the water and grow bulrushes and reeds inside that?

 

I was delighted today to watch a Grey Wagtail feeding for some time on what was probably damselfly larvae at the waters edge today. It's amazing how quickly the wildlife moves in.

 

Beautiful afternoon in Sussex. This will probably be the last pond picture for awhile until spring but I just wanted to show how well the newly sown grass is growing only two weeks after sowing.

 

Total blend. Brilliant.

 

Thanks @kindredspirit , that really is a nice compliment. It does look like it's been there more than three weeks.

 

The pond today.

 

The pond looks lovely in the snow. I am really looking forward to seeing photos of it as it develops this year.

 

I’ve put in a few at the end of last summer, given by a friend who was decongesting her pond. I’m really waiting for spring before doing anything more.

 

Looking forward to more pics of this amazing pond . What are you going to plant around the outside?

 

I'm going to stick to mostly native plants or those specifically recommended for wildlife ponds. The various Wildlife Trusts and RSPB have good lists and I'll probably concentrate on them.