Pond Diary

[kathateria]

I did ask this,and someone told me I am mixed up with a chameleon. Charming
I also think it might be something to do with age. But I had a green adult and a brown one

[GCN lova]

LOL. i swear it was yellowish like this when i rescued it but when it was under some wood it looked a brownish colour.

PS: would they eat slow worms?!

[GCN lova]

Springs here and i have got some frogspawn (donated) and there are three breeding toads in the pond! I can see one male has got the female and the other is sitting in the pond away from them. Yesterday i saw them having a little fight over her. They have been busy as the pond is quite muddy with them stirring the mud up.

Also i cleaned the pond a few weeks ago and found a froglet and two slow worms (the frog in the mud in the pond and the slow worms underneath). However there is no froggy activity or newts (the latter of which i was totally not expecting anyway) even our big male has disappeared after winter.

Has anyone still got frogs breeding? Im hoping along with some other members that we will get spawn soon.

The daffodils look great beside my pond and we have the shallows planted more.

[N0z]

Originally Posted by GCN lova

Springs here and i have got some frogspawn (donated) and there are three breeding toads in the pond! I can see one male has got the female and the other is sitting in the pond away from them. Yesterday i saw them having a little fight over her. They have been busy as the pond is quite muddy with them stirring the mud up.

Also i cleaned the pond a few weeks ago and found a froglet and two slow worms (the frog in the mud in the pond and the slow worms underneath). However there is no froggy activity or newts (the latter of which i was totally not expecting anyway) even our big male has disappeared after winter.

Has anyone still got frogs breeding? Im hoping along with some other members that we will get spawn soon.

The daffodils look great beside my pond and we have the shallows planted more.

My frogs are breeding successfully , maybe soon the frogs will hopefully breed in your pond.

[chicky]

I've just read through your whole thread, very interesting wildlife you've managed to attract already! We have the same pond as you (only difference is ours is black in colour) and we also noticed that the 'shallow' end has very raised sides (which makes the water level seem low) even though our pond is level. You don't realise this until the pond is in! The deeper and widest part of the pond is perfect for the water level, which reaches right up to the lip of the liner.

We put our pond in early last year, I've never been entirely happy with the way the water level acts on one side (worried about wildlife falling in and not being able to get out), I did consider starting again with a different pond, but, we decided to leave things alone and try to address the problem by adding lots of rocks and stones to aid wildlife at the shallow end. Also, I'm planting lots of overhanging plants in this particular area that will eventually dip into the water, hiding the high raised sides.

Yesterday, while I was planting I spotted our first ever frog. I stopped to watch it for a while. I'm so glad we left the pond alone, just wonderful

[Pigeon feather]

Very interesting, I too have just read the whole thread, I have a small home made pond with liner that i have just relocated to a shadier area of the garden as where it was before was too exposed.
I am hoping for frogs this year though it doesn't help I have a goldfish in it! it has starwort and hornwort and floating mosses, I did see a solitary frog in it last year but never got any spawn, it is joined by a smaller shallower preformed pond with a basket of rushes in and starwort so maybe they will take to this one, I too have a neighbour that screams whenever she encounters a frog!

[Billabong Karen]

It is so nice to hear of other people's experiences with a new pond... so good to know we all go through the same worries and the same happiness when wildlife turns up!

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Billabong Karen

It is so nice to hear of other people's experiences with a new pond... so good to know we all go through the same worries and the same happiness when wildlife turns up!

....Hear! Hear!

And it's also very satisfying when one has learnt enough here to be able to help others.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Pigeon feather

it has starwort and hornwort and floating mosses

....Floating mosses - I have just seen some in my pond for the first time in its history since being created in June 2010. At least, floating moss is the best way to describe it. It's rather dense and like a miniscule christmas tree forest and of course very wet.

Does anyone know more about such plants, please? Discussed elsewhere on WAB?

[Red Robin]

What's also very interesting about a pond diary is that it illustrates how pondlife is never exactly the same each year. It's forever changing and evolving.