Creating ponds
We knew from the beginning that we wanted lots of ponds. We have four already, some more ephemeral than others.
We invited Holly Williams, a pond expert from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, to visit and see what we could do to improve their quality. Holly tested the water and found the quality was pretty good, but three of the four were fairly shaded. This means they tend to support less, but more specialised, pondlife. We discussed clearing some trees around the ponds to let more light in, but all work like this comes with risks, particularly once we found Great Crested Newts living in one of them.
Instead we decided to leave the existing ponds for any shade specialists out there, and focus our time and effort on creating new ones within fields. These will be kept open by grazing, allowing plenty of light to reach the pond.
We’ve just dug out first pond, and plan to add one each year. This gives us time to see how they fair, and also means each pond with be at a different successional stage, benefiting a wide range of creatures.
Something to aim for: one of our existing ponds with Great Crested Newts
I didn’t know much about creating ponds when we started out, but Holly has taught me a lot, so here are my top tips!
Don’t connect your pond to a stream. This is a surefire way to bring in nitrates, phosphates, and other pollutants from upstream.
Wildlife ponds don’t need to be deep. In fact 1 m is all they need to be at their deepest. Most life happens in the shallows, and if they dry up in late summer it doesn’t matter, because the frogs, toads, and newts will be back on dry land by then anyway.
Dig a test hole first. Holly took samples using an auger down to 1 metre deep in multiple locations across The Meadowlands. We chose to dig out first pond in the spot that looked most promising, with good quality clay all the way down so it should hold water. Fingers crossed!
To learn more, The Freshwater Habitat Trust’s pond creation guide is brilliant and very thorough. And see the below plan for what our new pond looks like, courtesy of Holly.
Our freshly excavated new pond