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Attracting animals:
It is best to allow animals to arrive at your
pond naturally. Amphibians often find
their way to a pond within a year or two
and some can travel over a kilometre or
so to get to new ponds. Likewise many
invertebrates like dragonflies, water
boatmen and pond snails have surprising
abilities to colonise.
making your wildlife pond
Fish: what’s the
big deal?
The best wildlife ponds generally
have no fish in them. This is because
fish can quickly dominate a pond,
eating much of the other pond life and
limiting the variety of wildlife in your
pond. Their excretions can clog up the
pond too, meaning the pond requires
cleaning out more regularly.
Written consent and health checks are
required from the Environment Agency
to move any wild fish (or fish spawn)
to inland waters in England and Wales.
This is to minimise the chances of
spreading disease.
14
Finishing touches
planting up your pond:
There are a number of options for putting
plants into your pond. Many garden
centres sell plastic planting baskets or
bags to be filled with aquatic compost and
pebbles. The bags tend to balance better
on uneven surfaces or shelves. Another
environmentally friendly option is to wrap
roots and soil in a square of hessian sack
and tie with natural string. Ensure soil has
not been contaminated with pesticides or
fertilisers. This can lead to algal blooms
further down the line.
plants for amphibians:
Tadpoles will often be seen feeding on
algae and decaying matter in the pond.
On warm spring days you might see them
congregate in shallower areas of the pond,
particularly if there is an algae-covered
rock on which to graze. For tadpoles and
adult frogs, it’s a good idea to have an
area of tightly arranged plants at one end
of the pond at least, to provide cover from
predators.
You can help attract newts to ponds by
growing pond plants on which they can
lay their eggs. A wide range of plants with
thin and easily folded leaves are used for
egg-laying. These include Water forget-
me-not
Myosotis scorpioides
, Water-mint
Mentha aquatica
and Marsh-marigold
Caltha
palustris
.