Wildlife pond

[Danascully2]

Hi, we already have a fish pond in the garden (was there when we moved in) but I'd like to create a small wildlife pond too. I have no DIY skills so anything involving concrete, for example, is a non starter. I am debating between buying the smallest size of prefab pond, digging a hole and adding a liner or sinking a plastic crate in the ground (the type that you would us for tidying toys). With the prefab ponds, how hard is it to dig a hole the exact shape of the pond? This seems like it might be a bit daunting. I know shallow areas are important so if I do the plastic crate approach what would be the best thing to put in it to create shallow areas? Would bricks or logs leach anything undesirable into the water? Any suggestions very welcome!

I am thinking about doing this too, I have found a few ideas on Pinterest if you have that. I have a small butterfly and bee one at the moment with some rocks in it for them to balance on and have found the birds love it

A wildlife pond needs easy access and exit points plus space for plants and stones so I'm not sure about the plastic create idea unless you can make a floating ramp to help creatures get in and out. I dug a fairly random hole for a small preformed pond last year and filled the gaps and the bottom with builders' sand which made everything a lot easier. It has an inbuilt mini ramp plus shelves for plants & rocks. Had a ton of frogs and dragonflies and (somehow) three fish. I've planted stuff around the edges to give the baby frogs some protection when they appear and I've got a tiny solar-powered fountain. It's wonderful! Worth the extra bit of effort to make it more substantial.

I built one a few years ago and it is the best feature of the garden. I get so much pleasure from seeing the birds, dragonflies and frogs use it. I dug a hole, lined it with sand, put down an old sheet and then pond liner. Stones around the sides, a starter mix of pond plants and away it went. The first frog arrived the day after the water went in.

My only regret is that it isn’t deeper. Lots of how to guides suggest having it quite shallow with nice slope but it does mean that when the weather is hot the water level drops significantly and the liner shows. It is good for our resident hedgehogs though.

We’re moving soon (hopefully) and I can’t wait to build a new pond.

Hi thank you all for your tips.

Yes I agree the crate isn't the ideal shape and more sloping sides would be better ideally. Hmmm. If I do a liner one then I could include a deeper section but our fish pond is quite deep in the middle and the water levels still drop substantially when it's dry.

We have a wildlife pond my DH built.

He just dug a massive kidney beanish shape hole, then a smaller, deeper hole in the middle and shoved some liner in.
Added some sand and water milfoil and forget me not and loosestrife.

It is super pretty when all the plants around it are in bloom in a sunny day and it’s home to newts and pond snails, all the local cats like to drink from it.

Be wary of location, ours suffers quite badly with green blanket weed algae, most unattractive and a pain in the arse to keep pulling out.

What do you think about the location causes the algae? Too much sun? Although another thread was talking about how bees like stagnant water with algae because it helps them smell the water!

My husband has started a wildlife pond in our garden but not yet finished it. The hole's been there for a year! Every so often he decides that it's not big enough and digs some more out. The neighbours think he's digging a portal to another world!

Yes, too sunny.
It’s located in glorious full sunshine and although the loosestrife grows tall it isn’t really shaded by anything.
I’m planning on adding some hostas and iris this year around it though to offer a little more shade, see if that helps.

When my pond was first put it I had an algae problem. I bought some barley straw bales that are meant to help. It is fine now but it could be that the pond settled rather than the straw did anything. It can’t do any harm though!

Haha muffin I won't feel bad if mine takes me a while to dig then! The area I'm thinking of is a bit of a mess/wilderness anyway so won't matter if there's a random hole there for a bit. Also I am only planning a small one....

Well you have all encouraged me to start digging - I have a fair sized hole already, probably similar in size to the smallest prefab ones, but I will make it a bit bigger when I have the chance. The poster above who said you put a sheet in before the liner - did you mean an old bedsheet? What was the purpose of that? Someone else suggested sand between the soil and liner - what is that for?

You want to reduce any chance that the liner will be perforated by a sharp stone or something like that. The sheet was just an old duvet cover! If you google froglife they have a guide to building a wildlife pond that is useful.

I'd avoid the pre-formed ponds, they are pain to dig the right size hole, and then to level. I agree with PPs, dig the hole you want, line it with sand then old sheets etc. to prevent punctures, then use a liner. I also agree that you need a 'beach' area to let creatures get in and out, we just used an old concrete slab, and hid the edge with rocks etc on the 'land' side so it didn't look too ugly. When you dig out the pond, you leave one edge as a gentle slope and use it for the 'beach'.

Hi, do you mean you put the concrete slab by the side of the pond or sort of sloping up the side? If the latter how did you stop the slab making a hole in the liner? Thank you!

Sorry for the delay! We first built the slope before putting down the sand & liner, then put the slab on top. By having a gentle slope, the slab stays in place, and we hid the top edge with rocks etc. The water came about 1/2 way up.

Ah thank you for explaining. We have all sorts of random stuff lying around the garden so I'm sure I can find something suitable.

another tip, if you have access to an established wild-life pond, give it a bit of a stir and take a bucket or two of water from it & add it to your pond to 'seed' it. Best to do this after you've filled yours up and left it for a while for the water chemistry to settle.

Hi, I have a pond shaped hole and also remembered I have some old fleece blankets which I was going to get rid of - do you think I need sand as well or would the fleece be ok on its own under the liner? I have removed any stones I could find but can't guarantee there aren't any lurking just under the surface. I think we have a little bit of builders sand but not much so not sure it will cover the whole pond area. I am determined to get it finished this week!

If it's limited, I would put the sand at the bottom, as that's where most of the pressure will be, especially when you need to get in to clear it out.

Thank you - that's a handy tip. Found a bit more in the garage but probably still not quite enough for the whole area. Thank you!