Pond questions

[FolornLawn]

After a loooooong time planning, our new garden is being started after Christmas. It's a small space and as many decisions as possible are being made with wildlife in mind.

How essential is a pond in a wildlife garden? I think I'd prefer to do a container rather than dig a hole. We've got room for a trough about 1.5m x 05m, which would be in full sun for most of the day. I want to do the right thing but fear ending up with a yucky swamp.

I love the look of water bowls but are they too shallow to plant in? And more style over nature?

Can my little patch still be teeming with wildlife without including a water element?

Will container ponds you don't want the sun on them all day. 4 to 6 hours of sun is ideal.

The RHS website has a step by step guide on container ponds you could have a look at.

You don't necessarily need a pond for wildlife but some source of water will attract more.

I'm sure there was a great thread on here a while back. Will see of i can find it for you.

I thought that there would be more answers to this. My two penn'orth:
Apparently too much sun is bad; it only encourages algae
Beware of the placing it, so that trees don't shed leaves into it

We have a couple of ponds. They get some wildlife - a newt, some dragonflies, lots of waterboatmen - but it never seems as exciting as people make out. We also have a shallow dish near the conservatory and that is much more interesting as we can view the birds coming for a drink and a wash (birds also visit the ponds, tbf).
The dish also has a very small solar pump which means that we get the sound of running water, which is always lovely.

I love my pond, every garden should have one! They really are fantastic for wildlife, but any water source is going to be beneficial. Just make sure it has a ramp or stepped sides so creatures can get out.

We put a small pond in a couple of years back (about 1m2) and I have to say there is much more wildlife about now - mainly bird life.

However that coincided with us expanding the borders and packing them full which provides a lot of food and cover so this may also be a reason why there are more birds in the garden.

Thanks everyone. I'm wondering whether a good sized bird bath and a half barrel mini pond might be enough, certainly a lot cheaper and easier than digging a pond. And there would be more options for where to site them that aren't in full sun.

I’ve had a bucket pond for a few years, mostly because I like flag irises and marsh marigolds in the late spring. It gets afternoon sun, the plants keep it clear and I like seeing wildlife drink from it. A half barrel sounds ideal and agree with pp, not full sun or anywhere with too much leaf fall or autumn debris.

Glad to hear your bucket pond is thriving, @Brieeeeeeeee . Do you pile stones up to enable non-swimmers to escape?

Oh I love this, yes, please make a place for bees and other non swimmers to have a little drink. Very shallow water around pebbles type thing.

@theemmadilemma, by non-swimmers I meant rodents. Do I now need three water spots? One shallow for bees, one up to the bum of an average sized sparrow and another for frogs and newts?