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Ponds at Beer Mill Farm |
| Ponds are a valuable wildlife
habitat particularly for insects and plants. We have three ponds at the moment. One small pond we discovered when clearing back some very overgrown Blackthorn bushes along the northern boundary which was subsequently enlarged slightly. This is fed by a spring and has never dried out. The second is a pond that can be quite large in the winter but then dries out in the summer. The temptation was to excavate this out in order to retain the water but we have been advised that temporary ponds are necessary for certain plants and animals who require a wet environment in the winter and a much drier one in the summer. The third pond we have recently constructed in a marshy area in one corner of a field. This is fed by a spring higher in the field margin which does dry up for a time in the summer. However the size of the pond hopefully will be sufficient to retain water all year. In addition the heavy clay soil should hold the water quite well.
The flow from the spring was sufficient to fill it within three days thanks to the fairly wet May which meant the spring was still flowing when it would normally have dried up. At the rear is a tree/hedge belt and to one side is a marsh area fed by the overflow from the pond. This should ensure a wide variety of insect life. The margins will be sown with wild flowers
and some tree planting will be carried out around February 2003 The pond
above settled down nicely. For a short time when we had a
really dry spell in September, it dried up but we had
anticipated that and it filled up again within a day of
rain Spurred
on by the success of this endeavour we had a much larger
pond excavated in the June 2003 After various attempts to keep water in the new pond we installed a liner in April which has worked very well. The first pond we dug, was designed to dry out in the summer but this one we wanted to retain water so a liner it had to be. This section will be expanded but our thoughts on ponds so far are: In any material but solid clay you will probably have to fit a liner if you want to retain water. Even into clay you need a constant water supply, particularly during the summer if you don't want it to dry up. Avoid putting fish in. Then if it does dry up it it is not a complete disaster. Fish attract Herons. Very nice, but they puncture pond linings and when they have denuded the pond of fish you won't see them again! If you have an inflow, creating an outlet point does help keep the water clear. You can let the water merge into a marsh area which is a useful habitat but the pond does become much more cloudy. Having a definite flow across the top clears leaves and scum from the surface. Don't panic if the pond dries up in the middle of the summer. Many natural ponds do this anyway. If you are having a pond dug out. make sure you have a least one side sloping gently upward rather than having a universally deep pool all round. It gives you much more scope to plant things and gives frogs, newts etc. easy access This page to be expanded....... |
Left:
excavation work being carried out in late June 2002
falling. All through the winter
it has remained full and the marsh area we had hoped to
create to one side has formed exactly as we had hoped.
One section of the pond has been filled with stone
extending out onto the bank to create an area for
reptiles and other creatures to hide in and we have piled
two large stacks of logs in the grass alongside to rot
down and create an insect friendly environment.