We're Making a Wildlife Pond

A problem you might have is the amount of leaves falling into the pond and rotting down . As i say "might".

 

I’m not too worried about that. The mixed hedge is a valuable wildlife corridor leading to a stream. Hopefully amphibians will find their way up; toads already have.

 

:rasp: Those aren't amphibians!

 

A Grey Heron dropped in this morning!

 

Wonderful!!

 

Hope he didn't eat the toad.....but it's always a possibility with a wildlife pond.

 

Alligators, not crocodiles, Dear. Do observe the shape of the snout

 

Our water capture system is working and after a couple of days of rain the pond is looking good again. So pleased.

 

@Redwing , how is your wildlife pond doing now? I ask as I am currently working on a pond for a client who wants it purely for wildlife. We’ve had to dig it and build up one side as there is a massive gradient dropping from top to bottom. I wonder if you looked into different ways of lining? My client wanted his clay lined but I dont fancy puddling as it’s huge!! I’ve found a membrane which is ‘thatched’ almost with a line of clay which expands when wet. The issue is he wants it as natural as possible but the idea of turning the membrane is a good one.

 

I've tried to keep the thread up to date. The drought was quite a shock, seeing how much water evaporated but it's good now that it's full again. See pictures upthread.

Looks like a big project! What is the soil like? It looks loamy clay in the pictures. We wanted clay and we did try it but it leaked, due we think to tree roots and rabbit holes. I would go for clay if you think it'll work. We did look into different liners. Rubber or butyl was very expensive but we worried a lot about how we would get such a heavy object into position without tearing it so opted for Bradshaws liner at less than half the price and a fraction of the weight. We worry about deer getting in and putting a hole in it though, which could also happen with butyl or rubber and that would probably tear more easily. I did not know about the thatched membrane. Good luck. I hope you'll post more pictures.

 

Thanks @Redwing. I’ve looked at butyl and it does look good. We’re on the Isle of Wight and fortunately we don’t have wild deer but plenty of badgers, foxes rabbits etc. I looked at a quote for the clay mesh membrane and for 100x100 metres it came in at just under 8k fortunately my client doesn’t seem to have holes in his pocket but it sickens me to spend that much on a liner! I’m more enthusiastic to spend it on flora and filling with life than on membrane. But of course I don’t want to lessen the effect of the membrane. The soil is clay but extremely loamy and I’m a one man band and don’t fancy paddling on my own