Suitable for a pond?

Hi all

On my little piece of land there is a patch that is always full of water. I can't really call it a pond at present because it is mostly just muddy water with grass round it.

What I'm wondering is whether it would be a good candidate for a natural wildlife freindly pond.

It is big enough, at about 15ft by 10ft. It is deep enough, being about 2 or 3ft deep at the deepest point (don't mind escavating it deeper). But it may not be clean enough. It is quite close to the road side of my boundary, and when it rains it gets the surface run-off from the road so may have lots of nasty hydrocarbons and tyre residue in it. That said, the run-off from the road has to cross about 15 to 20ft of vegetation covered ground before it gets into my patch.

If I chuck in some oxygenating plants, some pond lillies and the likes, will it work as a pond or will it always just be the bit of my land that we all ignore?

 

No ideas anyone? I'm not being impatient, I just noticed that for some reason my thread isn't showing up when you click new posts

 

It should be ok, does it not attract wildlife already if it has been there a while it should have established itself, the depth is ok as long as it doesn't dry out at anytime,maybe worth puddling it with clay to ensure it doesn't,a worth while project which should work well.

 

What holds the water now?
In my opinion there would be no point in trying to make it a puddled clay pond because you would have to buy the clay, transport it to site, drain existing pool to put the new puddled clay in, and then you would sill have fill it with water. Also puddling it with clay would not insure it would stay full of water. A puddled clay pond needs to be full of water to work, not the other way round.

I would suggest, if anything, you clean it out, you may find something like old oil cans etc which will be harmful to any wildlife.



Why not post a picture or two

 

Pay attention w g I am asking if it dries out then it would be worth puddling there is no problem if it holds water all the time.

 

My dad owned the land for 10 years or more before I bought it off him, and I've had it for over a year now, and between us we've never known it get anywhere close to dry. In fact it is currently a bit dangerous to those that don't know its there (it is overgrown with march grass of some sort) as there is a stone path across it that my dad made, and if you stray from the path you could be gone forever Before my dad realised it was there he managed to get a modern large tractor stuck fast, right down to the back axle in it, and the farmer that owned the tractor had to get his mate to bring another tractor to drag it free

I don't think there'll be much rubbish in there. Although close to the road there is a patch of ground about 10 or 15ft wide and covered in Gorse and Brambles before you get to my boundary, then there's my hedgerow, then the 'pond' which is nicely tucked away in a sheltered but reasonably sunny spot.

The water in it is very brown (adding to the cunning disguise that help trap aforementioned tractor), suggesting it is full of either algae or churned up silt, probably the latter as it is filled by run-off partly from the road but I presume mostly from the bank sides that lead down into it.

Plant diversity there is not good at the moment, so that won't aid wildlife. Also because it is currently a bit hazardous, being a naturally disguised pond/bog we have so far left that piece of ground pretty much alone while we work on other areas. I'd be prepared to spend of few quid planting it out with native British pond/bog plants but only if there is a good chance it will work.

I know there are some marsh plants that have caught the attention of scientists recently as they have been found to absorb and neutralise nasty hydrocarbons very effectively, certain types of reeds for example (not technically true, the bacteria that supports the roots of reeds is responsible for locking up toxins). I think that would be a good place to start, but I also need to clear the water somehow (oxygenating pond plants?) and plant something that clearly marks the perimeter without compromising the completely natural appearance of the place.

 

Clueless, could there be a spring there? We have one on our land, we have just recently dug a hole, about 10ft x 15ft in what was a very boggy part of our clay soil and it has filled up. Within 24 hours water beetles and pond skaters arrived. I am now transferring our oxygenating weed, pond lilies, acorus, water grass, newts etc from a very small concrete pond in another area of the garden. I will also put bullrushes in cos I love em. There is a run-off down a channel into another boggy bit lower down where I will put reeds.

 

It would be great if there is a spring, but I doubt it. The main road that runs past my land is higher than my land on a man made embankment, which in turn is in a bit of a dip, so I reckon the bog patch is just kept topped up by moisture slowly draining out of the raised ground of the road embankment.

Sounds like you had a stroke of luck with your pond. If you have a spring on your land you could make a few quid by bottling up the water and given it some trendy name. Local office dwellers will buy it in bulk believing it will help them live forever as they use your spring water to wash down the one pumpkin seed they had for lunch

 

Sorry if I am wrong, but you seem to be trying to fix a problem without knowing the cause.
Unless you clean out / remove all the debris that is in there you will have a pool of stagnent water in which I suspect nothing will grow. It seems to be choked with old plants and what ever. You really should clean it out.

 

Clueless is there no life in there at all,frogs water fleas,if there is no life after all these years you have got a pollution problem.

 

I haven't really had a good look to see if there is anything currently in the 'pond'. I've been focusing on other mini-projects on the land so far, and now have reached a point where I'm ready to move onto the pond project. My original plan was to dig a pond but I figured I could achieve the same result with less effort if I work with what is naturally there. But then only if it is suitable.

It doesn't stink so I don't think its stagnant, and ordinary grass and weeds grow around the edges, so if it is polluted it is not so bad that plants wont grow in it. I can't see how it could be very badly polluted because there is nothing in the vicinity that is so nasty, it is just the run-off from the road when it rains that I'm a bit concerned about. That said, other patches of my ground get that same run-off and I found a toad hibernating just under the soil in my hedgerow when I was planting some new rabbit food (young trees) over winter (said toad was gently ushered into a safe spot after we woke the poor chap).

 

Stagnant water doesn't usually smell unless you "move it" If as I suspect it has been neglected then as you said

it really needs a good clean.

Pond owners clean their ponds at least once a year, they remove any old decaying matter such as leaves, grass, anything blown in etc. Koi owners on the other hand donâ??t usually bother because they opt to have bottom drains (They do "what it says on the tin") so koi ponds are always clean, but yours is not a koi pond and hasnâ??t been touched for years.

If you can, take some pictures, you can host them here on the GC website (go into your profile and select albums, follow the instructions)

 

I don't mind giving it a good clean, if my effort is likely to result in success. But once established, I want it to be pretty much self sustaining. That must be possible, ponds and their ecosystems have been around since long before man came along and started putting pumps and filters in them. I don't mind doing the work but my goal is to get nature back on track up there after possibly centuries of abuse from agriculture and then the near by quarrying activities (the quarry has long since gone), followed by a decade or so of very little activity (my dad grazed livestock on it for a few years before selling his stock and effectively giving up on the land for a few years before I bought it off him).

 

If there is nothing wrong with the pond after the length of time it's been there it should be thriving with wild life I will reiterate what I said before get a jar full see if there is anything in there you should have some water fleas,rotifers or such this will indicate wether you have a pollution problem or not.

 

Thanks. Next time I go up I'll do a bit of fishing with a jam jar and a bamboo cane