Bathtub pond photo

[Bob_at_Fant]

Ok, by way of testing photo upload and inclusion in messages, hopefully attached to this message will be a photo of an old tin bathtub which has been turned into a pond..



It's home to one or maybe two frogs and a fair number of taddies who appear to have decided to overwinter, also a few froglets earlier on who have all now disappeared.

Yes, the cat behind the pond is one of two, both of whom take quite an interest in the ponds..

Bob

[Billabong Karen]

I love it - very cool! How do the frogs get in and out - I think you said you put logs or something on one side?

What a beautiful cat; reminds me of my old cat William who I found with two other tiny kittens, dumped in the wood, when I was a teenager. We found homes for the other two, and I kept him until he was an old, old cat... Lovely boy he was. Word of warning though - dont go posting photos like that on the British Birds forum, unless you want to create a STORM of protest!!!

[Bob_at_Fant]

Hi Karen,

Yes, I piled a load of logs up against the side of the tub but I don't know how anything got in or out before. I do wonder if this previous isolation was the reason for it being my most successful frog pond as it's the only one, so far as I know, with no newts in it. I also put a plank of wood in the pond itself to help the froglets out but they never twigged, they just half ran/half swum around the edge of the tub trying to get out so I kept the water level topped right up to the edge which did the trick.

The cat is called Libby, she and her brother Henry were fearsome hunters at my old house but they don't seem to hunt much now though I try to keep an eye on them. I shall try not to post their pics around here!

Bob

[Billabong Karen]

Frogs are surprisingly good climbers!

Re the cats - I only mentioned this because there have been numerous pro and contra cats threads, which can become quite contentious, and we dont want your welcome to WAB to consist of a stream of outraged comments!!!

Looking forward to posts of the other ponds. Did you see my new attempt, on the water life forum? Karen

[Bob_at_Fant]

Hi again Karen,

yes I was impressed with your high speed pond construction and would be interested in KE's shallow pond thread if you could point me to it 'cos I can't find it as most of my ponds are shallower than I'd like

I suppose cats, mine or anyone else's are just one more consideration when trying to develop a wildlife friendly area, there are Herons and some big foxes around here so I try to include ground cover and hidey holes as part of the plan.

I shall do a post on my other bathtub pond in a min as I uploaded a couple of photos last night. I'll put that one in a new thread as it might be of more interest from a construction point of view

Bob

[Billabong Karen]

Take a look at 'Current Pond Life' and 'Reed Mace Problem' under Water Life Forums. King Edward is very much of the opinion that shallow ponds are better than steep, deeper ponds, from a wildlife point of view.

[King Edward]

Other opinions do differ on ideal pond depth, of course. I think your bath ponds should be fine so long as the water's clean and (ideally) you have a good range of plants in there. Lilies probably aren't the best (at least, not in excess) since the leaves shade the water beneath and they don't provide much 3D structure underwater (compared to, say, pondweeds like Hornwort). That said, Hornwort does seem to do well with a bit of shade over it.

If you were planning on making any more ponds (if 5 isn't enough), then definitely some shallower ones would provide more variety.

I'm glad your froglets have been getting out of the water OK - I saw some drowned ones in our pond (at least, I assume they drowned) which has very gentle sloping edges, so even that provides no guarantee of safety.

[Billabong Karen]

I even found a drownded (or at least dead) froglet in my birdbath! And a sort of dried out one on the sundial... Goodness knows what it was doing up there!

Hey KE - what plants would you suggest for a very shallow pond, like the new one I have just constructed?

[GCN lova]

Im not King Edward obviously but watercress creates some marshy areas. My ones create a marshy area with their roots and the froglets LOVE them. They are quite vigorous but they can be dealt with easily by pulling them out. They also have nice flowers.

GCN lova

PS: Bob are any of your ponds ground level? Nice photos. My cat drinks from the pond and chases froglets and lizards but she never manages to catch them.

[Bob_at_Fant]

Well yes KE, I am planning one more pond and it may have to be shallow which is why I was interested in your ideas about this.

If it does get very cold I'm a bit worried about the old tin bathtub as being all exposed above ground level I imagine the water will be more susceptible to freezing, I suppose I could put up a wind break but I'd prefer the ponds to retain their characteristics so there's a variety of conditions between them

GCN Lova, no all the other ponds are more or less at ground level and my cats will only drink from the ponds, occasionally I catch them 'fishing', I suppose some movement catches their attention and they make a grab for something they've seen.

Bob