Some questions about the new pond

 

The rain has come at just the right time

Matthew (see comments) has asked a few questions about the new pond:

Does the liner just extend under the turves?

Yes

Is that a big enough catchment?

I hope so! In the first pond, the liner extends just to the edge of the pond, and there is very little runoff from the surroundings (mostly the grass around it slopes slightly away from the pond, and though it is a bit higher at the back I think the area that could provide water is very small).

I’ve not topped the first pond up at all since I made it and, although I wanted it to dry out a bit, it’s shown no sign of doing so! Mind you, it has been pretty consistently wet since I made it in 2007.

Will there be much surface runoff into your pond?

I think very little – but I’m not too worried because (a) I don’t mind if it goes down – I’m interested to see what happens if we have natural drawdown in a garden pond (b) I can alsways add water from the rainwater butt or even route it directly from the roof to the pond.

Will the nutrients in the turves not leach into the water? 

The highest point of the liner is just in front of the turves so they will mostly be outside the pond in fact – so water will flow from the pond out through the turves when the pond overflows – so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. A bit of soil has fallen in while I was fiddling about with the edges, but a little bit won’t do any harm.

Kan I haz charofytz

Extensive research***   has proven that cats prefer drinking from ponds that have clean unpolluted water with nice populations of submerged water plants.

 

 

 

 

***(On Fluffy the Cat, in our garden)

PS If you wondering what’s going on, see http://icanhascheezburger.com/

How to make a really good wildlife pond (2)

The new pond, 26th April 2009: I had enough rainwater stored to 3/4 fill it

Here is the new pond now roughly finished.

What’s to do next?

Wait for it to fill (we’re promised rain over the next few days, but it may take a few weeks).

Then, when its full, make final adjustments to the depths at the margins, either by raising or lowering the liner a little. The edge is the most important part of the pond for wildlife and fine tuning this area will be important.

It’s not easy to tell from the picture, but the pond is roughly half shallow water (mainly less than 5 cm, with the deepest area down to 10 cm) and half deeper water, down to about 30 cm maximum.

We’ll cover the liner with a thin layer of sand to give a more natural finish.

And later on, we will be planting this pond up to show how to create a real local, natural, native, flora.

The new pond

Fast progress today, and suddenly there is a pond.

Now just the tidying is needed, and some rain to complete the filling.

Rainy days

I’m looking out on rain-filled skies, and I feel a quickening, the excitement of exceptional weather. I look out for weather warnings – which are really a promise of pleasures to come.

I never know what to say when people complain about the rain. I never quite have the nerve to tell them what I really feel, to to tell them I really don’t agree its a miserable day. Its a day promising the unusual, maybe the exceptional.

I love the rain; I love heavy rain and I love its implications. Whisper it: I love floods.

It’s a scary business; and, as we’ve been reminded today, water is still untamed.

A new beetle for the pond

Our newest arrival - a whole 4 mm, but no less important for that

Yesterday Katy and I found a new beetle for the pond – its a small scavenger water beetle, unfortunately with no English name. Just like you need a pair of binoculars to appreciate birds properly so with little chaps like these you really need a low power binocular microscope to get a feel for them.

Enochrus coarctatus (ee-knock-rus co-ark-tay-tus) is not especially endangered - the known British distribution is below – but its always nice to see this group of beetles (there are ten kinds of Enochrus recorded in Britain). They make you feel the pond is a little bit upmarket. We only found it in about one in five of the top notch, least damaged, ponds of Pond Conservation’s National Pond Survey so it is a beetle of nicer places.

Distribution of Enochrus coarctatus in Britain and Ireland

The habitat is pools with rich vegetation: I suspect its not often (ever?) been seen in a garden pond but then not many garden ponds have nice grassy edges like mine, and water beetles just love grassy edges.

Its actually one of the many LBJs of the pond world and takes a bit of identifying (for the beetlers who might be reading this it was a male, so easy to confirm the identity).

Little animals like this are actually quite easily recognised by those who really know their beetles (me, I need to get the microscope out). For the average pond dipper they are just another little brown beetle but I suspect in 10 years time animals like this will be in the realms of ordinary field guide natural history although at present the Collins guide is rubbish for beetles and completely misrepresents their true variety. Its a bit like having the warbler section of a bird field guide showing just a blackcap and a chiffchaff, and simply ignoring garden warblers, willow warblers, common whitethroats, Dartford warblers and all the rest.

You can see the original of the picture above at this splendid stream of Flikr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coleoptera-us/3052939128/

Any thoughts

Hi Everyone

Any thoughts on Vicky’s question in Update on Frozen Frogs?

It would be interesting to know if people had more or less spawn this year.

For me, in Abingdon we had at least twice as much as last year – but maybe that’s because we’ve got a new pond and frogs are building up still.

J

A new arrival!

The eggs of an alderfly laid on my bulrush today

These eggs signal an exiting new arrival at the pond – and an animal which in turn depends on the bulrush colonisation. 

They are alderfly eggs, fresh laid today (when laid they are white – soon they will turn brown).

The appearance of adult alderflies in April and early May is a classic sign of spring for pond lovers – the dark brown flies, which look a bit like moths, fly in the day and can be seen around tall emergent plants, where they lay their eggs. Bulrushes are a typical egg-laying site.

The common alderfly Sialis lutaria: these dark brown flies, with their wings held like a tent over their backs, are a sure sign that spring is well and truly with us. They are often very confiding - they will happily sit on your shirt or your hand

I saw adult alderflies last year visiting the pond – but with no bulrush until the late summer there were no egg laying sites.

Now they’ve arrived – and alderfly larvae are a sign of good quality ponds. I’d been hoping they would come, and I’m very happy to see them.

Making my new clean water pond

Making progress last Sunday

The new pond is progressing well – I’ve begun to shape the hole now, and work on the marginal turves. The maximum depth is going to be around 30 cm, with the pond roughly divided between a deeper ‘north’ basin and a shallower ‘south’ basin.

The liner is bought and paid for.

Next weekend should see the final stages, if we are lucky – then it’ll be time to pray for water. No hosepipe filling here!

The spirit level and long pole help to get the margins the same height all the way round

Taddie watch

Latest pictures of the taddies from today and yesterday.

They’re getting together in their favourite places – the very shallowest areas, a centimetre or so deep – as soon as it gets a bit warmer in the day.