The Pond and Wild Garden
We built the pond in a damp spot at the lowest point of the garden. This involved clearing a fallen crack willow and clearing elder and hawthorn before digging out and laying a rubber liner. What we hadn't realised was that there a natural spring under the middle of the 10 x 6m pond, which a certain times of the year created so much pressure that the liner bulged upwards, causing the pond to flood over the edges and then, as the liner resettled, remained half empty. It took some time to work out what was happening, but eventually we understood this 'hippo' effect, took the pond apart , peeled back the liner and created a drain to prevent it happening again.
The pond has a good population of newts and dragonfly larva, which we think is the reason for the poor performance of tadpoles. We've also spotted grass snakes swimming in the pond on several occasions. At night, any resident hedgehogs come down to drink and bats can be seen skimming over the pond in the twilight.
The pond has a good population of newts and dragonfly larva, which we think is the reason for the poor performance of tadpoles. We've also spotted grass snakes swimming in the pond on several occasions. At night, any resident hedgehogs come down to drink and bats can be seen skimming over the pond in the twilight.
