A Wildlife Water Haven..... I hope!

Apologies for being such a shoddy member of this group. I had intended on being here more often but life keeps blooming well running away from me and I've also had a flare-up of Labyrinthitis again which knocks me for 6 when it's bad. All seems ok atm though, fingers crossed! Anyway......


I've been wanting to add a wildlife pond to my garden for some time and so this summer, I took the plunge and did it. As I was the one digging it out and putting it all in place I opted to use a preformed liner. Thankfully we have a fabulous aquatics centre attached to a local garden centre, so I've been able to tap into their advise for pond plants etc too.

The area that the pond is placed is by my greenhouses. It gets full sun from around 11am till around 4/5pm at this time of year. With that in mind, once the pond was dug in and sited I added shelters from the sun by using bricks with slate across them and small broken terracotta pots for any inhabitants to the bottom of the pond so they can seek some shade. We also have hedgehogs in the garden so I've made sure there is a way for them to get out should they slip in by placing logs across with a couple that lead into the water.

The pond is placed at the back of our leylandii/conifer hedge which has died off at the back. That was cut back to the trunks (the front of it is still very green) and I'm hoping to grow a climbing clematis over it in time to cover the trunks. I know that it may well drop lots of bits into the pond, so I'll be keeping an eye on how it fairs over the coming months and can always move it if needs be.
The area was very overgrown with bramble and ground elder, so it took a couple of weeks of digging over the area to try to remove as many roots etc as possible before pond construction took place. There's bound to be some that come through but I'm hopeful I've got out the lions share. Fingers crossed.

I've added bark around the area to try to help suppress the weeds etc coming through and to also give a base for the gravel and stones alongside the pond.

Anyway, enough of my wittering.. Here it is. I have to say I'm really pleased with it and I can't wait to see if we have residents moving in.

Before and after!.

Totally overgrown, lots of bramble and Ground Elder (blasted stuff!)


Let the clearing, begin!





Part way through digging! I should have employed a couple of moles to do this for me.


The Pond. Bermuda Sands Pond.


Starting to play about placing rocks and stones.


The end result.


I'm going to add more plants around the perimeter of the pond and will be adding a log stack to the right (where the potted calla lily is) to add more hideaways for any visitors.










If anyone has any advice on how I can keep the pond in the best condition, I'd really appreciate it. xx

 

Looks fantastic, the only problem I foresee is blanket weed covering everything as it does in my barrel. You must be pleased with the result.

 

Thanks @strongylodon . I've already removed a little blanket weed that had hitched a ride on the water hawthorn. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on it.