Converting a pond for wildlife..

Hi I currently have a pre formed plastic pond with steep sides leading to a shelf and a deeper section in the middle (about 5ft length & 3ft depth).
The pond is quite old and possibly leaking slightly, I was planning to clear the area around it and lay a rubber liner on top of the plastic pond.
What I would really like to do is make it more of a wildlife pond (I don’t have fish) with gradual sloping sides.
Any suggestions as to what I could put under the new liner to mould it to a more appropriate shape, any help much appreciated

 

Sand or soil would be my choice to make the slope less steep.

 

Alternatively you could put the liner in first and then backfill with sand or aquatic soil. That way you would hide the liner and create a layer for plants to grow and beasties to live

 

Thanks for that I wasn’t that aware of aquatic soil would it hold its shape when submerged in water

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Put the liner in full sun or inside to warm it up first. Makes it far more flexible and easier to fit with less creases..
Visit a local pond and get a bucket of water from it and put it in your pond a day after yours is filled which will bring your tap water pond to liife. Make sure you dont get any pond weed in it because its a right pain in the ass.
Get a couple oxygenators in there too, makes the water better for any life..

 

Hi,
perhaps you could take the pre-formed plastic pond out and just shape the sides of the hole to create more gentle slopes, and then lay the flexible liner. That would give you the freedom to create the shape you want.

Liners are often sold together with an underlay, which is basically just a weed suppressing mesh to keep sharp roots and stones from pressing through. If you have sharp bits in the soil, an old carpet apparently would work well, or a layer of sand.

I just used the underlay that came with the liner and it has been fine.

Wildlife will come even if the sides are steep if the conditions are favourable. Our first pond was a large plastic plant pot buried in the soil, the first summer we got our first resident toad

Shallow areas are great for birds and other creatures though.

If you take the old preformed pool out you can use it to make it a great raised bed/ super-sized container.

 

Hello. I have just joined. I am following this conversation with great interest as I am currently planning a pond. It won't be huge, but I have bought a 5x6m liner, so it will be a reasonable size. I was unsure about filling the pond with a layer of soil after fitting the liner. Talking of Geoff Hamilton, I have several excellent books by him and in one of them he shows a step-by-step guide to making a pond. He advocates putting soil on top of the liner before filling with water and acknowledges that this approach differs from others. I am inclined to follow his method. Any thoughts on this? Would the soil I have excavated do the job? Should I mix it with sand / small pebbles etc.? Many thanks.

 

Thank you so much for the very prompt and informative answer. Invaluable advice and a great welcome to the forum. Essentially I'm aiming at creating a small, informal wildlife pond with a 'shore', some cover and 'shelves' for plants, as you suggest. Yes, I'd like to make a bog garden too, but I'd need to give that a bit more thought. I am also considering a few other ideas, such as a floating island. Anyone tried one of those?

 

Thank you again. That'll give me plenty to think about.