Staffylovers wildlife pond

[Martinspuddle]

Your Dad needs a the Snoozatron.

[Staffylover]

Done some work on the pond recently, couple of weeks ago cleared out a load of blanket weed plus added some new plants that turned it a bit brown for a day or so but it was worth doing as now I can see the newts again, they are quite fun to watch, only ever see 1 or 2 if any, but doing the clear out saw about 6, no wonder I don't get so many tadpoles, yesterday I topped it up using Prime! Also added a bag of watercress for some surface cover though I'm sure the uninvited duckweed will soon do its thing

[Staffylover]

In the pond I seem to suddenly have an over abundance of yellow flowers, it must be a tough plant, I'm sure I didn't buy that much of it last year, needs another clear out now, it always looks a bit messy I only get rid of the worst off the surface, the critters don't care what it looks like! But so that I can have something more formal I made the barrel pond for the patio last week, really pleased with it, have ordered a cheap solar power fountain for it but it hasn't arrived yet

[Staffylover]

Really pleased with the little pot pond, the water lily has put leaves up to the surface and the creeping jenny is also growing across, in the main pond the Angel Fishing Rod plant is back in flower which is really nice, but I would like some more flowers round the edge I have been trying to transplant some of the little daisy in the pic but it's not worked so far, also a tiny water fountain has arrived but it needs direct sun to work, fingers crossed I can get that going on the next sunny day, it's been quite overcast here today

[Staffylover]

Finally getting round to some updates, the little pot pond has been a success, got the fountain going only used it a few times but it's a nice option, the lily has put some pads up to the surface and not getting any trouble with the pots falling over like I did at first, so suspect the local birds have learned not to use it, they do have a proper pond they can use.

[Staffylover]

Did a bit of a tidy on the main pond the other day, there is not much I can do as it's so full of life, but I skimmed the worst of the duckweed off the surface so at least there is a bit of clear water, I have a lot of tiny pond skaters now which is nice to see as I didn't really get any last year, also seen a few tiny frogs so some have survived the newts

[Staffylover]

I have been sorting my ponds for winter,
The pot pond got shut down couple of weeks ago, decided to empty it and leave it upside down for winter, then start again in the spring, this is mostly an attempt to keep things looking neat and under control

The wildlife pond got a bit of attention today, it did look a mess see before pic, with dead leaves overturned pots etc,
anyway I dragged all the pots out except for the 2 in the deepest part, that left the pond clear so I could net out the leaves and other stuff, then I trimmed the plant roots and have left most of them out round the edge, that should make it easier to re pot them in the spring, just put half a dozen back in, the grass and those in flower,
I must say it was not as bad as I feared, the only critters I had to put back were a few snails and 1 half grown newt, plus I disturbed a frog which hopped off out of the way, no beetles or pond skater types were left so it was much easier then in the spring when I had to spend half my time putting stuff back in!
@fr499y How is your pond?

Pot pond,


Pond Before,


Pond After,

[fr499y]

No idea @Staffylover I haven't been in the garden for over a month! I'll take a look in the morning

[Staffylover]

Little pond looking a bit frozen up today brrrrr

[VikingMummy2015]

I almost took a picture of mine…it’s iced over and snowed over too! I can’t actually stay outside more than 5 minutes just now because it’s so cold and my Raynauds/thyroid kick in, so it’s going to be a fair bit of work come Spring.