Inherited pond, first time pond owner help!

Hi all, my first post in this forum so hopefully I am doing it right!
I have just moved into a beautiful cottage, and it has come with a decent-sized pond. I have never had a pond before so I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing with it. I am sure that for the most part it will look after itself (?), but I feel from looking at it that it might need some tlc right now.

The main thing is it has lots of leaves in it from surrounding trees, and there's a lot of green weed/algae? in there too. I am guessing that I need to at least remove the leaves, but what about all the green in there? The hurdle (if it is one), is that the pond is full of newts and a pair of frogs moved in this week too. Can I clean it up without disturbing them spawning or should I leave it for now?
I have (hopefully) attached some pictures.

 

That is one happy looking pond. And you are so lucky to have wildlife in it. If it were mine, I would do the absolute minimum to it. For example, I would leave it undisturbed if that is possible. Maybe pick out a few of the biggest fallen leaves but put them into a riddle or other open mesh container and rest that on the edge of the pond so that any wildlife clinging to the leaves can drop back into the water.

Our pond was doing well until a pair of mallards arrived about a month ago. They have stirred up the water with their feet and eaten the frog spawn and toad spawn and frightened away the newts. They are very friendly and great characters, but they have finished off my plans for a watery ecosystem in my garden.

 

Hello and welcome to GC. Beautiful pond! Firstly, don't worry about the newts and frogs. The urge to breed will overcome any disturbance on your part. Definitely get out out as many leaves as possible, as well as sludge from former autumns if there is any near the top. Rotting leaves eventually lead to toxic water. If the frogs have spawned already, just scoop the jelly-like clumps back in near some plants and so they're just covered by water. (Toadspawn is in long strings of jelly with black blobs). Depending on how fussy you are about the surrounding paving, lay a plastic sheet or a couple of bin bags on it with the edge hanging back into the pond and put what you dredge out on that. Leave it for a couple of days so any wildlife can wiggle it's way back into the water :-) Residue can be composted or spread under shrubs and trees to enrich the soil. Do hope that this helps....

 

Hi and Welcome to the Forum,

It depends on what you want to do with the pond, keep small fish in it or, as it seems to be now without fish , which allows you to keep it a natual plant and wildlife area ?

As the frogs etc are already in there would suggest you just remove the surface floating leaves and avoid disturbing the sediment for now.
The patches of algae, you could lift some of it now before the frogs spawn, but leave a fair bit for the tadpoles etc.

Looks like quiet a few plants are already putting up new shoots so would avoid anything major for a couple of months to see what else is in there.

With its shallow edge expect you will get a lot of larger visitors to the pond, so covering that area with an infra red camera can be interesting.

 

Thanks @Tidemark @noisette47 @ricky101

I do feel very lucky, I wasn't expecting it to have much in it but it seems to be filled with things! I've also see a couple of diving beetles and there's a lot of water snails too.

Planning to keep it natural, no fish. Few cats about and lots of birds of prey so I am not sure fish would do very well!

I'll scoop out some of the fallen leaf sludge and leave it to the side for a bit then, and hope that doesn't disturb too much and helps clean up the water a little. I guess I can re-evaluate in the Autumn after spending the spring and summer getting to know what plants and wildlife call it home and then invest in a net to catch the leaves next time!