boggy areas:
havens for wildlife
working today
for nature tomorrow
Why have a garden pond?
Most people are fascinated by water and a garden pond is an excellent
way of having it close to home. Garden ponds provide beauty and
interest, and if well designed, will make a real difference for wildlife.
Garden ponds 3
Formal ponds like this one are not built with nature in mind. Bob Gibbons
4
dig up bottom-rooted vegetation and Designing your pond
most will eat tadpoles and other pond
animals. If you regularly feed large Think carefully where your pond is
numbers of fish, the nutrients added to be. Once dug, it can’t be moved!
to the water will encourage green If it’s in sight of the living room or
algae and blanket weed that can kitchen windows, you’ll be able to
smother the whole pond in a very watch birds, bats and other visitors
short time. Most ponds with large from inside your home. If the pond
fish have to have pumps, filters and is away from the house, it may attract
aerators. The answer may be to have more timid species, and you can plan
one pond for fish, and another, the garden so the pond is a beautiful
without fish, for wildlife. surprise in a private corner. Mark
out the outline with canes and see
Gardeners usually want to add exotic how it will look before you start
plants to their ponds, as to their digging.
flowerbeds. These will not stop
plenty of interesting native animals Aim to have part of the pond in full
colonising their ponds, but plants sunlight. This allows the water to
long-adapted to conditions here warm up quickly in the spring, so
normally support a greater variety of encouraging plant growth. Some
invertebrates. Wildlife ponds should wildlife species prefer shaded water,
contain mainly native plants, many of but avoid digging a new pond right
them very beautiful. by a large tree as you may damage
Garden ponds 5
the roots. Worse, new roots may Garden ponds needn’t be deep.
penetrate your liner and your pond Most pond animals are found in the
may fill with leaves. Think also shallowest water – a couple of
about where the water supply is to centimetres deep. Deep open water
come from. is the most dangerous habitat for
small animals, especially if fish are
How big should it be? This is up to present - so maximise the shallows.
you and your budget. Bigger ponds
mean more plant species and a more For a wildlife pond, 40-50cm is deep
varied habitat for animals. But enough, and will mean much less soil
doubling the dimensions of a pond to remove.
increases the liner cost four times,
and creates eight times the volume of A clean water supply is crucial. If
soil to dispose of! The pond should water is contaminated with fertilising
be in scale with the rest of your nutrients, you will face a continual
garden: even tiny ponds can hold a struggle with algal build up. If your
lot of wildlife. If you have the space, pond is on a slope, it will fill from
an excellent arrangement for wildlife rainwater run-off. It is, then, very
is to have one larger pond, several important that the ground above the
shallow small pools and a bog garden pond is not artificially fertilised, or
area, allowing some pools to become left bare, because nutrients and silt
muddy or dry in the summer. This will wash in.
variety of habitats will ensure a great
diversity of species.
Green woodpecker. Chris Gomersall The cuckooflower is one of the main food
plants of the orange-tip butterfly.
Chris Gibson/English Nature
6
Water boatman Corixa punctata. Bob Gibbons Bogbean. Chris Gibson/English Nature
Most people fill their ponds with tap area at about 1-15cm deep, where
water. This is easy – but rather water plants will flourish. The
wasteful. Tap water also often margins should be very gently sloping
contains high quantities of nutrients in at least some places, so the finished
that encourage algal growth. The pond merges naturally into the land.
best possible source is rain water. Ideally, create a ‘drawdown’ zone, a
Can you site your pond close enough very shallow (5cm or less) area,
to the house or a greenhouse or shed, which you can cover with gravel and
to be able to siphon water from a round stones, to form a beach and
butt? With a little ingenuity, you protect the liner in summer. Flooded
may be able to divert water from a in winter, it will partly dry out in
down-pipe directly into the pond. summer, making a fabulous habitat
for many insect species, and a great
What shape should the pond be? bathing area for birds.
Straight edges look unnatural and
should be avoided. The margins are Constructing your pond
best for wildlife, so in larger ponds,
try for a wavy-edged oval rather than • You can make a pond in any
a plain circular shape. The most month but early autumn is perhaps
important design element is the the most practical season, when
profile of the sides. Make sure you the ground is neither too hard, dry
leave LOTS of shallow water shelf nor cold.
Garden ponds 7
• You don’t want to put a spade • How big a liner do you need?
through an underground pipe! Measure the greatest length and
Check your site plans for evidence width of the hole and then the
of buried cables or pipes. You can depth. Add twice the depth to
usually work out where the drains both of the other dimensions.
run by following the inspection This means that if the length is
covers. 3m, the width 2m and the depth
40cm then you need a liner 3.8m
• Unless you garden on heavy clay, long and 2.8m wide. Allow for
you will need a liner. For very extra liner so that the edges can be
small ponds you can buy pre- buried in the surrounding soil.
formed liners of plastic or
fibreglass, but some of these don’t • When you have dug the hole,
have gently-sloping sides for remove all sharp projecting stones
animals to escape. Some gardeners or roots that could puncture the
use concrete, but this is a major liner. This is time consuming, but
undertaking, and can be very essential. Locating and repairing
expensive. Most people use a holes later is extremely difficult!
flexible liner. The best ones are Add a 2.5cm layer of damp sand
of butyl or EPDM rubber, and as further protection, or use a
should be guaranteed for 25 years. fabric layer. Old carpets cut to
Don’t be tempted by cheap shape will do, although they will
polythene. This often splits and rot eventually and become
punctures within a couple of years. ineffective. Alternatively, buy
8
For large and ambitious • Have plenty of marginal
projects plants, especially where
sides are steeper.
Most garden ponds don’t need
planning permission. But if you • Don’t let the pond surface
are making a very large pond, become completely covered
if it is close to your boundary with duckweed or other
(especially if this is a road or floating species, which can
footpath) or on agricultural make a pond look like an
land, contact your planning area of flat ground and
officer and ask for advice. encourage children (and
Officers are almost always dogs) to walk into it.
helpful and often interested in
ponds themselves. • Fence the pond securely.
The fence should be at least
If you are going to take water 110cm high, and with close
from a river or stream or vertical posts that can’t
discharge water into one, you easily be climbed or
will require a licence from the squeezed between.
Environment Agency. In any However, make sure that
case, if your garden is on the you can get over or through
flood plain of a river, you must the fence immediately in
consult the Environment case a child somehow
Agency, especially over the manages to get past.
removal of spoil.
• Strong plastic or metal
meshes to keep children
completely away from the
Ponds and safety water are now commercially
available.
It is essential to plan your
pond with safety in mind. The
These are only really
following steps will help to
appropriate for smaller
reduce risks for young
ponds, and must be
children:
properly installed so
children can’t get under
• Keep the pond shallow,
them. Safe commercial
and have wide, very gently-
models are advertised in
sloping margins all round.
garden magazines.
Garden ponds 9
thick polyester matting from do this is to use turf. The grass
lining suppliers. If you have put will grow into the pond, making it
in a beach area, it can be a good easy for animals to climb in and
plan to put an extra layer of surplus out. Beach areas should be
trimmed-off liner over the liner on covered with fine pea gravel (not
the beach, to help protect it from sharp edged pieces) and round or
people’s feet and dogs’claws. flat stones. As silt collects
between the stones, plants will
• What to do with the spoil? A start to colonise, so you will
pond two metres by three metres protect the liner and have an
and 50 cm deep in the middle will attractive area of habitat as well.
create two cubic metres of loose
soil. If the garden is on a slope, • You don’t need to spread subsoil
use some of this to ensure the over the pond bottom to encourage
sides of the pond are level all plants. And NEVER put topsoil
round. Many people use the into a pond, because you will
surplus soil to make a rockery or a bring in unwanted nutrients.
bank nearby, and these features
can be great winter refuges for For more details, consult one of the
amphibians. Make sure the rocks excellent guides listed at the end of
come from a sustainable source, this leaflet.
and not from rain-sculptured
limestone, and plant the bank Ponds and the rest of your
with native species to provide garden
cover all year round.
For many animals, the quality of
• Digging is hard but satisfying habitat outside the pond is just as
work. Hand digging makes it important as the water itself. This is
easier to make modifications and especially true for frogs, toads and
adjustments as you go along. For
big ponds, if you have vehicle
access, you could hire a mini-
digger or approach a contractor
for a quote. One digger and its
operator can do a huge amount in
a day for a modest rate, but make
sure that you agree plans and
costs in advance.
10
Smooth newt. Chris Gibson/English Nature
newts, which spend most of their with butyl and then just refill it with
lives on land, using the water mainly the extracted soil. A bog garden can
to breed. A very formal garden will look wonderful next to a pond,
offer no support for these especially if it’s located so that
amphibians, which need dense cover surplus pond water drains into it
and a plentiful supply of insects and naturally. Dense, lush vegetation in
worms for food. Set aside a bog gardens is superb habitat for
proportion of your garden to help newly-emerged young frogs. Bog
them, with dense, shady, shrubby gardens also support some very
borders and areas of long grass under attractive native flowers.
trees. Leaving a few areas unkempt
is great for wildlife, and you can
provide over-wintering habitat by
making piles of logs in a quiet
shaded area. Rockeries make good
amphibian habitat too.
Garden ponds 11
Native plants for your pond plants live with all or most of their
structure underwater. They offer a
Plants are vital components of your very valuable habitat for animal
wildlife pond, providing both habitat species in deeper water, and help
and food for a host of animal species. mop up surplus nutrients.
Wildlife ponds should have much of
their water surface covered by a good Floating leaf plants have their
variety of plants. The more leaves on the water surface in
complicated the underwater summer, and provide shade and
‘architecture’ of roots, stems and cover. Floating sweet-grass provides
leaves, the more animal species can some of the best habitat, and is
co-exist. Very few animals like clear excellent for growing over the edge
open water, where they are easily of the liner, giving a natural look.
spotted and eaten by fish.
Emergent plants include some
Although some plants can colonise attractive species. They prefer
ponds very quickly, people will want shallow water to root, forming
to introduce plants of their own choice. excellent invertebrate habitat, but
It is important to plant native species, most of their summer growth is out
to which our native animal species of the water. They include rushes
are adapted. The species in the table and reeds, as well as some very fine
(see pages 14-15) are all attractive flowering species, but some are just
and easy to establish. too vigorous for a small pond.
Water plants fall into four rather Marginal and bog plants thrive at
artificial categories. Submerged the water’s edge or in wet soil. They
12
Native plants for garden ponds Suitable Comments
for
Submerged plants
Curled pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) 1 Also fennel pondweed (P. pectinatus)
Water starwort (Callitriche stagnalis) 1 Floating rosettes of rounded leaves
Rigid hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) 1 Thickly-tufted plant, vigorous
Water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) 1 Caution! NOT Myriophyllum
aquaticum
Water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis)* 1 Partly floating, attractive white
flowers
14
Native plants for garden ponds Suitable Comments
for
Tall emergents
Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) 1-2 Very pretty pink-flowering rush
Branched bur-reed (Sparganum erectum) 3 Unusual spiky flower, semi evergreen
Water mint (Mentha aquatica) 2-3 Pretty, scented leaves, invasive, good
for bees
Water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) 2 Small pink flowers, up to 1m high
Greater pond-sedge (Carex riparia) 2-3 Makes good invertebrate habitat
Lesser bulrush (Typha angustifolia) 2-3 Not for small ponds
Common reed (Phragmites australis) 3 Fine plant, but too big for most ponds
Garden ponds 15
Floating pennywort Hydrocotyle ranunculoides - a plant to avoid! Bob Gibbons
16
• New Zealand pygmyweed or panic, but physically remove all you
Australian swamp-stonecrop can, compost the plants, and keep
(Crassula helmsii) doing so until you are sure they have
• Parrot’s-feather (Myriophyllum disappeared.
aquaticum)
• Floating pennywort (Hydrocotyle Under no circumstances dispose of
ranunculoides) even a fragment of any of these
• Canadian pondweed/Nuttalls plants in the wild!
pondweed (Elodea
canadensis/Elodea nuttallii) Where to get plants
• Curly waterweed (Lagarosiphon
major) It’s illegal to uproot any wild plant
without permission from the
If you think any of these species may landowner, although you can collect
have colonised your pond, don’t seed. Your best source may be
Garden ponds 17
neighbours, friends or a local Managing your pond plants
gardening club, who will usually be
able to spare cuttings of their own Once established, most water plants
pond stock, but watch out for grow extraordinarily fast unless they
aliens! Often, your local wildlife are heavily shaded. This means they
trust will be doing management work compete for space in a small pond
on a reserve pond, and may be able and need management. Some plants
to provide material. There are some like bogbean send out long runners
excellent specialist native plant and can spread two or three metres in
suppliers, many of them listed on a season, but are easily reduced
Flora Locale’s website because the brittle stems can be
www.floralocale.org. snapped. Others, like the common
reed – only suitable for the very
Although many garden centres now largest ponds – form dense, tough,
sell native species of pond plants, root masses that need a saw to cut
these may be ‘improved’ garden them back.
varieties, which are actually of less
use to wildlife. The double-flowered Don’t over-manage your pond plants.
variety of marsh marigold – Caltha Remember, they are home for the
palustris plena – is one to avoid. animals in the pond, so leave them
Some centres still sell the invasive alone during the summer, especially
plants mentioned earlier, and their the grasses growing out from the
native stock may be contaminated lawn with leaves spreading into the
with exotic species. pond margins. It’s best to remove
Great pond snail. Garth Coupland Water scorpion. Roger Key/English Nature
18
Migrant hawker. Paul Keene
Although plants are beautiful and Animals play many roles in ponds.
valuable in their own right, it is the Freshwater shrimps eat organic
animals that provide the greatest debris and rotten vegetation. Water
Garden ponds 19
Emperor dragonfly. Dave Sadler Great diving beetle. Roger Key/English Nature
20
ponds. Grass snakes may visit or areas. Concrete fish ponds can be
even take up residence for the summer difficult for animals to escape from
if there are plenty of frogs to eat. and few have extensive vegetation
cover. To help wildlife, first ensure
If you watch a pond at dusk you are that frogs and hedgehogs can leave
likely to see bats, probably the pond, using rocks, stones or
pipistrelles, flying over the water, paving slabs as a ramp. Then, create
attracted by emerging insects. more shallow habitat. Use sandbags,
Hedgehogs and even badgers may recycled bricks or building blocks to
stop for a drink, although you will be make a retaining wall near the pond
fortunate to see them. edge, and backfill to near the water
surface, using stones, gravel or
Frequently asked questions subsoil (NOT topsoil). This will
about ponds produce shallow water habitat in
which plants can get established.
I already have a garden pond - what Remember that a complicated
can I do to make it more wildlife underwater ‘architecture’ will
friendly? support more animal species.
Finally, do you really want those
Formal ponds are not designed for fish? If you can bear to give them
wildlife. They tend to have steep away (don’t release them into the
sides without extensive shallow wild!), or just not replace them when
Garden ponds 21
the heron has breakfasted, you’ll in, or trapped under nets. A moderate
enjoy many more species of animals input of leaves does no harm.
in your pond. Leaves have little fertilising ability,
but are food for many small
Should I put in a fountain and filter to organisms. It is best to use a rake to
keep the water clear and oxygenated? remove excessive leaves, and put
them into the compost heap.
These aren’t needed for a wildlife
pond. Pond filters take out suspended I’m finding dead frogs in and around
particles – but also the plankton my pond – what is the problem?
essential to a healthy pond. They are
only needed in over-stocked fish Although most frogs hibernate under
ponds. Fountains help maintain cover on land, a few over-winter in
oxygen levels in fishponds, but oxygen the bottom of ponds. If the water is
isn’t a problem in a balanced wildlife frozen for a long period, some frogs
pond. For all that, fountains and may be killed by a build up of toxic
waterfalls can make attractive features decay gases. Bodies may float to the
and they do no harm at all to wildlife. surface in spring. Occasionally,
female frogs are drowned during the
Should I put a net over the pond to mating period by over-attentive
keep leaves out in autumn? males. The most serious cause of
death is the newly imported Red Leg
It is difficult to net larger ponds, and it Disease, a viral complaint that causes
isn’t necessary unless the pond is right starvation, unpleasant ulceration and
under a large tree. Sometimes frogs, eventually death. If your frogs look
grass snakes or birds can get tangled unwell, look up the Froglife website
The grass snake is the largest British snake. Harmless to humans, it can The linnet is one of many bird species that may drop
spend much of its time in water, often feeding on frogs. Andy Sands in for a quick drink. Chris Gomersall
22
Both photos Bob Gibbons. However much frogspawn you have in your pond, only
a tiny number of eggs will develop into adult frogs.
Garden ponds 23
Foxes occasionally visit garden ponds but you may need to be an early The larvae of dragonflies are fearsome predators,
riser to see one. Mike Lane taking tadpoles and even small fish.
Roger Key/English Nature
24
frogs. Even then, you only need a fox coming to drink. In the heat of
small hole to allow gases to escape. the day, watch the dragonflies and
Float a large ball on the surface to other insects flying over the pond,
keep a vent open. Alternatively, mating and laying eggs. Look out
make a hole by resting a saucepan of for dragonfly larvae emerging and
hot water on the ice to melt through. hatching into winged adults - one of
Never hit the ice with a hammer to the most extraordinary events you
break it as the vibrations can kill can witness in a garden. In the
sensitive animals throughout the evening, don’t forget to look for bats.
pond.
Use the books on ponds and pondlife
Enjoying your pond listed on page 26 to discover what
species you have in your pond. The
Don’t just spend time working on easiest way to study small
your pond – give yourself time to invertebrates is to catch them with a
stop and enjoy it, and the fascinating fine kitchen sieve, and study them in
creatures it contains. All sorts of a white plastic tray. Why not build
birds visit ponds including pied up a list of species from season to
wagtails and their beautiful (unfairly season and year to year? Eventually,
named!) cousins, grey wagtails. In you may become a pond expert
the early morning you may glimpse a yourself!
Arrowhead. Chris Gibson/English Nature The grey heron may not always be a welcome
visitor. Bob Gibbons
Garden ponds 25
Finding out more This is one of a series of English
Nature leaflets about gardening with
The Ponds Conservation Trust, 1999. wildlife in mind. The others are:
The Pond Book: A guide to the Reptiles in your garden; Amphibians
Management and Creation of Ponds. in your garden; Wildlife-friendly
Oxford. Order through gardening: a general guide;
www.pondstrust.org.uk Composting and peat-free gardening;
Plants for wildlife-friendly
Louise Bardsley 2003. gardening; and Meadows in your
The Wildlife Pond Handbook. garden. In preparation: Dragonflies
New Holland, London. and damselflies in your garden. All
leaflets are free and can be obtained
Peter Robinson, 2003. from the Enquiry Service on
RHS Water Gardening. 01773 455101 or e-mail:
Dorling Kindersley. enquiries@english-nature.org.uk
Trevor Beebee 1995.
Pond Life.
Whittet Books.
26
Useful organisations
Pond Conservation:
The Water Habitats Trust,
BMS,
Oxford Brookes University,
Gipsy Lane,
Oxford OX3 0BP.
www.pondstrust.org.uk
Froglife,
White Lodge,
London Road,
Peterborough PE7 0LG.
www.froglife.org
Flora Locale,
36, Kingfisher Court, The Herpetological Conservation
Hambridge Road, Trust,
Newbury RG14 5SJ. 655A Christchurch Road,
www.floralocale.org Boscombe,
Bournemouth,
Dorset BH1 4AP.
www.herpconstrust.org.uk
Plantlife,
14, Rollestone Street,
Salisbury SP1 1DX.
www.plantlife.org.uk
27
English Nature is the
Government agency
Pond Conservation is the national
that champions the
charity working to conserve and
conservation of wildlife protect ponds and small water
and geology throughout bodies through research, training
England. and practical management and
creation projects.
This is one of a range of
publications published by:
External Relations Team
English Nature
Northminster House
Peterborough PE1 1UA
www.english-nature.org.uk
© English Nature 2005
Front cover photographs:
Printed on Evolution Top left: Pond skaters may arrive at
Satin, 75% recycled new ponds within days.
Roger Key/English Nature
post-consumer waste Bottom left: Broad-bodied chaser.
paper, elemental chlorine Paul Keene
Main: The kingfisher is an unlikely
free. visitor to most ponds but can turn up
almost anywhere near water.
ISBN 1 85716 856 9 Chris Gomersall