How would. I build a small wildlife pond in my garden?

[Alaney]

Keen but clueless.

Simple instructions would be appreciated

The most important thing for a wildlife pond is a slope each side of the edge, so things can climb in and out. Most other details are flexible.

A pre-made solid container (moulded liner, old sink) is simplest. And out of direct sunlight is best, especially for a small one.

@Alaney if you search pond, there have been a few cracking threads on the subject in the last couple of years. I would cut and paste them if I was home but I'm out with my laptop so it's a bit of a faff. Lots of advice and some pics of people's ponds too.

Phone not laptop. 🙄

Take washing up basin, dig washing up basin shaped hole, put basin in hole and fill with water. Add slate or similar to allow access/exit. Honestly it's as simple as that. Pop into your local aquarium shop and ask about suitable plants. Its not the best time of year but they will have something. I would also put a shallow dish of water nearby that you keep ice free throughout the winter as drinking water. And check out the other threads. It's a great thing to do.

This is something I need to learn about asap myself. Weaved house over the summer, and inherited a bath pond at the bottom of the garden. We've noticed froglets, dragonflies and damselflies, but haven't a clue how to keep it going. These threads may help us both!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/5016384-wildlife-pond

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/5074246-pond-ideas?page=3&reply=135294611

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/4912228-wildlife-pond?reply=129691367

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/5087518-new-pond-advice?reply=135707851

This is how we created ours. Dug hole with sloping sides (very much like a beach hole). We bought a pond liner as opposed to a fibreglass pond because we have clay soil that shifts and we wanted to avoid any cracking and leakage. Next we got large quarry stones to go round the edge and into the water's edge for frogs and toads to climb in and out. Finally, we bought pond plants and an air pump to aeriate the water. Our first pump was operated by a solar panel. Our pond is now Amphibian Live Island every spring.

It doesn't need to be deep, 30cm max is fab.
You want somewhere not too sunny and not fully in the shade either.
You don't want somewhere under a tree for example where leaf fall will be a massive problem.
You can either go for a cheap route and put sink a washing tub into the ground, or dig a hole and pop some liner in. Just make sure the sides are either slopey for wildlife to climb out or you can use ramps for the frogs to climb out.
Plants wise, don't worry about sourcing loads, you'll find visiting wildlife will bring their own soon enough.
Mosquitos will lay eggs in still water so its never a bad idea to have one of those cheapy solar fountains going for an hour or two just to keep the bastards away.

Mosquitos will lay eggs in still water so its never a bad idea to have one of those cheapy solar fountains going for an hour or two just to keep the bastards away. Once your pond is inhabited, mosquitoes won’t be a problem. Most pond life appears to be carnivorous

This is how I did mine using a pre-formed pond shape from B&Q:
https://greenmermaidcottage.blogspot.com/2024/10/encouraging-wildlife-in-my-garden.html

Then, I added oxygenating plants to help keep it clean and encourage wildlife.

I bought a big, plastic half barrel a few months ago, added marginal plants in a basket on some bricks, a flat stone for the birds to bathe on and a branch as a perch/exit. I'm going to pile logs and turf up one side. It's very early days but I've already got pond snails. They must have come in on the plants. I collect rainwater to keep it topped up. I've got plans for a bigger pond but this'll do for now.

Washing up basin is too small & will turn green & stink after a few days!
get some liner from eBay/amazon…dig a hole, make it deeper in the middle (60cm is usually advised as a minimum) and with one sloping end.

it’s probably too late in the season for garden centres to be selling pond plants…best to wait to do all this after Easter next year.
The following year you’ll kick yourself for not making it bigger…we’ve all been there!
Any water feature is a great addition to a garden…enjoy!

My washing up basin pond is fine after a few years. Couple of handfuls of oxygenating plants and some rain. But I do agree whatever you do next year you'll want a bigger one. I have a number of different ponds/waterfeatures.

Some great suggestions here. I'm working my way through them and accepting my little pond might be a bit bigger than I'd envisaged.

I built a wildlife pond earlier this year. I wholeheartedly agree with the advice of building it as big as possible.

The key thing is the sloping sides so wildlife can get out of it and several levels/shelves for plants.

I spent ages researching it, learning how to edge it so you can’t see the liner and what plants to buy.

Although his is a really big pond, I really recommend looking at some of Marks house and garden videos on YouTube for inspiration
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtRpmsW3VM

Joel Ashton also has some good stuff on YouTube
m.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrjMv6TMlU

I went to a garden centre to find pond oxygenating plants. Even though they had a pond section they didn't have anything suitable. I saw in a ditch a plant and I thought 'Is that water starwort?' - one of the plants I'd been looking for.

So I took some home and put it in my pond next to the yellow flag iris and its doing very well.

I found someone selling a large pond tub on Facebook. I filled the bottom with some big stones and then bought some plants (or snaffled cuttings from friends). Most importantly you need some oxygenating weed to stop the water going stagnant and smelly. I bought this online. It's not rooted and just floats in the water.

It took just a week or so for the frogs to turn up, though I have a lot of frogs in my garden, and has now been going for four years. Some years I have had 5 to 7 frogs. I've never had to change water but in very dry years I add a little (tap water which I leave to stand in a bucket for a day or two for the chlorine to dissipate).

I don't have 'steps' for creatures to get in but there are pots around it, of varying heights and they seem to use these as stepping stones to get it. Anyway, frogs are very agile and can jump high.

It brings me so much joy 😊.

Good luck x

I got half a whiskey barrel last spring - some iris, rushes and a tiny water lily, the mint got a bit thuggish so it was removed, some oxygenaters. We got a solar-powered pump too but we still got mosquitos - got some of the dunk things - a tiny bit in the water once sorted that problem out till other things took over. We then got blanket weed - I manually remove that - seems fine. Looking forward to seeing if we get tadpoles this year - we have dragon flies and a few birds...early days.