Thanks for all the comments!
On second thoughts I do think a small fountain might be a bit too much as I can imagine the poor daphnie and larvae being thrown up through it
Def no fish as it will have to be low maintenance as the biology department might use it for pond dipping and with fish they will not find anything apart from ammonia lol :d
However I would still like a waterfall as all my wildlife ponds were too small to contain it and I guess if I pick a less powerful pump and position it away from the waterlillies it should be fine. Plus I hope it can attract more wildlife as they will hear running water.
Lights do sound a bit stupid now
as no one will be there to see them and this will just cause extra work with electrics.
I'm not too sure on the volume of the pond as it is quite an irregular shape but here are some plans that I drew up:
- the left side will have a very shallow incline with pebbles to help wildlife get in and out; the right side will be deep (1.2m at max) with stair like sides for various marginals. If I can dig it out in a day that would be great
So I guess my only question left will be if anyone can give me tips on how to dig that shape out. Will there be a lot of ruler work to make sure the sides are 30cm; I guess I will dig from the outside and then dig inwards?
Thanks again for the helpful replies