How to build a Wildlife Pond
How to build a Wildlife Pond
How to build a Wildlife Pond
As more and more people become aware of their environment and are encouraged to become ‘green’ some people might want to help the wildlife in their gardens. One way to do this is to provide a Wildlife pond built specifically with nature in mind.
It will not be long before you will be able to watch frogs & toads, newts, and maybe even the local hedgehogs enjoying the fruits of your labour.
The site
Ensure the site chosen is level and it needs a sunny aspect with some shade – particularly during the hottest part of the summer day. Try to position it away from trees that lose their leaves in autumn they will have to be cleared every day. Try to chose somewhere that you can watch the wildlife but not too close to where people may need to pass by frequently as it could disturb the creatures. The other very important point to remember is that water is dangerous and young children can drown in the most shallow of water. You might need to think about erecting a fence.
How big should your Wildlife pond be?
The next consideration is how big you want your wildlife pond to be. To some extent this will be decided by the size of the site you have chosen. However, it should be at least 2’ deep (in Gt Britain and more in colder climates) to give protection to inhabitants during winter. The length and breadth are for you to decide but you must provide easy access to all types of animals and insects and therefore must create a shallow ‘end’ to enable small animals to climb out if they accidentally fall in.
Wildlife Pond construction materials
There are no hard and fast rules on what you should use to build you wildlife pond. Any clean waterproof container with a wide neck or opening (i.e. a bucket) can be turned, quite easily, into a wildlife pond. If small enough to position near to a window it can be watched all the time. However, most people will want to construct a larger wildlife pond and there are 2 different types to choose from.
The first is the pre-cast rigid plastic or fibreglass pond liner that you dig a hole for, place the rigid liner in the hole and plant around the edges to hide the edges. The downside of this type is that they often don’t have a shallow part and you would need to put something inside to help small animals escape if they inadvertently fell in.
The other type using flexible liner material is probably the most widely used as you can decide on the shape of your wildlife pond, construct shallow areas where you want them and dig out to the depth you want your wildlife pond to be. There are different types of flexible liner and to ensure your wildlife pond does not leak you should choose the best liner you can afford. (Butyl liner should last at least 20 years).
However, care must be taken throughout construction to ensure no sharp objects (i.e. stones, branches, roots) can puncture your wildlife pond liner. Even after the pond is finished make sure nothing sharp comes into contact with the liner.
Now the hard work begins- digging the hole for your Wildlife pond
You can copy gardeners’ ideas by using an old hosepipe to layout the shape of your wildlife pond if using flexible liner or, in the case of the rigid liner, turn it upside down and mark out the area to be dug out for your wildlife pond. Don’t forget to take into account the fact that you need some form of protection under the flexible liner (i.e. sand or an old carpet would do the job) to prevent damage to the liner from stones etc.
Keep the turf/grass (if applicable) safely as you can reuse it to hide the edges of the wildlife pond liner. You will need to construct either a trench or a ‘collar’ of concrete all around the edge of the wildlife pond to fix the wildlife pond liner safely. A concrete collar is a good idea as it gives you somewhere safe to stand close to the pond without damaging the edge of the wildlife pond in any way.
Use small round pebbles to hold the liner on the shelves and put a shallow layer of sieved sub soil at the bottom of the pond and on the shelves where you want to plant your wildlife pond plants.
Fill your wildlife pond with water
The water should be added very slowly to ensure everything happens, as you want it to. The flexible liner will be pulled into shape by the weight of the water into the shape of your wildlife pond. When full, trim the edge of the flexible liner and anchor the edge of the wildlife pond liner under the turf/grass you have saved and small stone or smooth rocks.
With the rigid liner you need to disguise the edge of the liner in the same manner as the flexible liner.
As you will probably use water from your tap you will need to leave it for about 2 weeks so that the water loses the chemicals in it.
Plants for your wildlife pond
Leave the water in your wildlife pond to stand for about 2 weeks before planting. You will need different types of plants to provide the correct conditions for your wildlife. Oxygenating plants provide your wildlife pond with oxygen – something all living things need to survive. Floating plants provide shade and shelter to insects and small animals and then plants for the edge of the wildlife pond provide hiding places as well.
Where is the wildlife for my wildlife pond?
You don’t have to go out and buy anything as most small animals and insects will just turn up or are already living in your garden under leaves, in compost heaps or under flowerpots and stones so they will find your wildlife pond on their own.
However, if you are impatient you could try to find someone with a wildlife pond already well used and ask for a bucket of mud. Hopefully the mud will contain some bugs and their eggs. You can add this to your wildlife pond to immediately have some wildlife to watch.
Don’t add fish to your wildlife pond if you want frogs or tadpoles as they will eat them.
And Finally – the future for my wildlife pond
To promote a sustainable living area for your wildlife you need to think about the area around the wildlife pond too. You should try to provide somewhere for the animals to hibernate without being disturbed. You could create a rockery and create an area of tall plants close by, old logs stacked safely or even piles of leaves left will be used by the small animals and insects. These will also provide sources of food for your wildlife pond visitors. One note to remember is not to use slug pellets in your garden as these will quickly kill off any wildlife you are trying to encourage into your wildlife pond.
One last point – take a little time out of your hectic life to just sit and enjoy watching the wildlife you have provided the wildlife pond for!
Backyard Ponds is a community blog set-up to answer pond related questions.