My garden pond - grateful for advice

[jpscloud]

I'll post some pics of my small (6' by 2.5' and about 2' deep in the deepest part with two shallow shelves at each end) garden pond when I manage to get some reasonable ones.

Over the last 12 years it's been home to five, then eventually just one goldfish, which very sadly perished in our second harsh winter (2010/2011) in a row. The pond was vile for a while after the thaw, smelling strongly of death with several dead frogs and extremely stinky clouded water.

It turned out the sparrows roosting in the bamboo overhanging the pond turned it into sparrow poo soup, and with no plant growth going on, it just went really nasty. I've decided not to put fish in there again, as I think it's probably too small.

The pond still has a healthy frog population despite winter losses, a good ramshorn snail population and is full of water soldiers, a community about 10 years old now, which I thin out every summer. I also have a miniature water lily that has never flowered and ivy creeping into the pond from the edges. The edges are very dry due to the bamboo, and it having a rigid liner. At one end I have a couple of large bits of sandstone - a little harts tongue fern popped up between them and has been there many years now.

Duckweed is a problem, but I scoop it off every so often. I have less problems with blanket weed now that about 2/3 of the pond is shaded by the bamboo.

I have never scooped out much of the sludge at the bottom of the pond. It gets a fair few bamboo leaves but little else falling into it and is (I think) about 4- inches thick.

Since plant growth started the water has looked and smelled much healthier. I've chucked in a pack of watercress bought from tesco (some of it has little white hairs on, but not much... still, I live in hope) after reading that tip on this forum.

OK if anyone is feeling generous with their time I have a few questions!

I haven't yet done any pond dipping or watching proper yet, but as this is the first year without fish, I wonder if I'll get more wildlife in there? Does anyone have any pond watching tips, e.g. how to spot signs of newts, damsel and dragonfly larvae, etc.?

As the pond seems to have recovered well from being sparrow poo soup, do I need to worry about next winter's onslaught (and is there anything I can realistically do about it anyway?)

Thanks in advance for any advice and sorry about the lack of photos for the time being!

[Red Robin]

Pond maintenance is greatly reduced to hardly any at all when you don't have fish and filters etc etc. Nature copes pretty well

[jpscloud]

Thanks Red Robin - I was hoping I could pretty much leave it to its own devices. I usually top it up and overflow it a bit in the summer months as it loses water, but that's as much as I do as far as maintenance goes. Would oxygenators be useful? I've never tried them before.

[nightshade]

Oxygenators are a must, all the pond inhabitants rely on well oxygenated water.

[King Edward]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Oxygenators are a must, all the pond inhabitants rely on well oxygenated water.

That's not really true - for one thing, a lot of oxygen will diffuse in from the air. Also, with a lot of other aquatic vegetation, shade from above and water quality problems, submerged plants may well not grow that well anyway. And many pond creatures primarily breathe air from the surface, so are not particularly dependent on dissolved oxygen.

That's not to say you couldn't try one or two submerged species, but they're far from being essential. More important is to have lots of plant growth in the water, including things like ivy/grass creeping in from the edges which provide good habitat in the water.

The Sparrow droppings do sound like a problem, but there's probably not much you can do about them (other than putting in a second pond away from overhanging bushes).

For pond watching, you can often see a lot at night with a torch. It's worth getting as close to the water as you can to see the smaller creatures, so be prepared to lie down. Smooth Newts if you have them are active day and night, so are often quite visible. Damsel/dragonfly larvae are most visible when they crawl up emergent vegetation for the adults to emerge, leaving behind their larval skins (exuviae) which you can spot clinging to plants.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by King Edward

That's not really true - for one thing, a lot of oxygen will diffuse in from the air. Also, with a lot of other aquatic vegetation, shade from above and water quality problems, submerged plants may well not grow that well anyway. And many pond creatures primarily breathe air from the surface, so are not particularly dependent on dissolved oxygen.

....That may be so, but I've always thought that the photosynthesis which oxygenator plants greatly contribute to, is a significant factor in the quality of the water itself. The quality of water in turn helps support the kind of wildlife which us humans enjoy seeing.

[jpscloud]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions - although water quality has been poor, it does seem okay now and the water soldier that have been in the pond for years are doing great. I think I'll try a british native submerged species, when I find one.

[jpscloud]

Originally Posted by King Edward

For pond watching, you can often see a lot at night with a torch. It's worth getting as close to the water as you can to see the smaller creatures, so be prepared to lie down.

My retired and somewhat conservative (with a small c) neighbours already think I'm mad, this will really get them going!

[Red Robin]

Here's a fwendly tip for your torchlit newt watching newly found fetish:

Keep a low profile and position the torch so that you're not illuminated and so that the torch doesn't shine directly at your newts eyes. Approach the pond edge slowly as if to pretend that dawn is breaking... albeit rather fast!

You may also find some of your newts on rocks in the dark, probably out on a hunting expedition.

During daylight you're less likely to see them at all if it's bright and sunny.

[King Edward]

Another torch-watching tip is to hold the end of the torch underwater (so long as it's waterproof, of course). That way you cut out surface glare entirely. I recently bought a Zebralight H51 which is pretty good for close-up pond watching, not least because you can adjust the brightness as appropriate. It is quite expensive though.

Phantom midge larvae show up pretty well at night, much better than during the day.

Going back to the submerged plants, you could try either of the Hornwort species (Rigid or Soft).