Current pond life

[King Edward]

These are the two ponds next door - the goldfish/lily pond where most of the Toads / Great Crested Newts are (relined in 2009), and the new fish-free pond with sloping, sandy shallows (relined in 2011). Both of these were originally old, very badly cracked concrete ponds about 70cm deep, so relining gave us the chance to incorporate some shallower areas. Not much plant growth in the new one yet - the floating mats are a mix of Duckweed/blanketweed, a lot of which has recently sunk following rain. Both of these have rainwater piped in directly from the roof, so stay fairly full.

[Kayleigh]

If they were my ponds I would cover the liner with turf I have done this, the grass does grow over the edge the frogs love it but you have to cut every 3 years or so or it grows into the water.
great looking ponds it nice you have the room to build large ponds I wish mine was bigger but it still attracts lots of wildlife.

[King Edward]

Turf is a good suggestion - I might try moving some from elsewhere in the garden, or I might just wait for the grass to grow over and cover it. Alternatively, I'll have a look round the garden for a nice patch of Creeping Bent to dig up and divide to get things going a bit faster. The most difficult bits are where the liner slopes too steeply for the sand to stay on, especially in areas below the winter high water level but which are dry for much of the year.

I'm quite happy to have the grass growing into the water, that has always been my intention - it should blend in nicely with the grass around, and provide a good habitat for all sorts of creatures.

[Billabong Karen]

The grass creeping in is fine if you have large ponds like yours, but if I understand Kayleigh rightly hers is quite small, so grass encroachment could make the pond quite a lot smaller. Great for frogs and newts though...

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Billabong Karen

The grass creeping in is fine if you have large ponds like yours, but if I understand Kayleigh rightly hers is quite small, so grass encroachment could make the pond quite a lot smaller. Great for frogs and newts though...

I think it would the turf would be an instant liner cover so would not only look good on the eye will protect the liner through the winter from frost damage and through the summer from the sun..

Believe it or not my pond is 10ft long and 3ft wide but one end is overgrown with yellow flag iris so has decreased the look of the size.

[King Edward]

Have a new problem with the liner now - tunnelling moles. Not damaging the liner itself (which is protected by a very robust Polyfelt underlay), but in a couple of places they've caused the edge to subside, so the water will overflow there once it fills back up with rainwater after the summer drought. Shouldn't be a massive problem, but a nuisance since I'll have to dig up the buried edge and raise up the undermined areas.

[Billabong Karen]

I have voles that tunnel all around the pond, causing me some worry about whether they will actually bite through the underlay and the liner at some point... They do dig a lot around the edges of the pond, but so far have not caused subsidence. Blooming nuisance they are... but I dont know how to persuade them that mine is not the garden where they should live, as they have been destroying my lawn for years now! I have kind of decided to put up with them, and just keep moving their earth mounds away.

Do hope they dont cause too much damage to your lovely set up, KE.