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What to do with a pond?

Denidoom

Denidoom

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Any tips for what to do with a pond? At my soon to be home in Cumbria I have quite a big pond, when I say big, its not huge, long and narrow 20ft x 3ft. It's currently home to pond weed and a few lily pads. Is there anything that you can grow in a pond that you can eat or is this just another mad idea? Basically trying to look at all my resources and trying to make the most out of them.
 
We have a pond, about 15x10 oh liked the sound of fish until the heron found us, no more fish, we have a couple of ducks now, they lay well and love the pond. Its also nice to sit beside on a summer evening. Life shouldn't just be about food, there are other pleasures :p
 
hodgson said:
We have a pond, about 15x10 oh liked the sound of fish until the heron found us, no more fish, we have a couple of ducks now, they lay well and love the pond. Its also nice to sit beside on a summer evening. Life shouldn't just be about food, there are other pleasures :p
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I agree about life is not just being about food! I'm not planning on draining it if I can't eat out of it :D The pond will still be a great thing to have in the garden and a great habitat for all kinds of stuff. A couple of ducks is a nice idea! I saw this article and it got me thinking that rather than put a few koi carp in it, why not put something I could potentially eat one day (if the heron didn't get them first) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/3353540/Carp-sustainable-food-you-can-keep-in-the-pond.html
 
Fish. Go for a mixture of native varieties and plenty of them Perch are very good eating. You may even find you have some already. Plant lots of reedmace, flag irises and other tall water plants to deter the Herons and make sure your pond is deep. The lillies and other water plants should keep the water clear and once you have everything growing the wildlife water attracts is astonishing.
I've got frogs, toads and quite a few different types of dragonfly and the swallows and bats love a bit of open water too. Then there's the ones that come for a drink. I made my lake with a shallow shelf before a deep drop off, anything falling in can climb out again and larger animals and many smaller birds can get to the water's edge for a sup. Oh and the other advantage to having fish is you could always pump the pondwater through an aquaponics set up.
I love my lake.:)
 
MikeR said:
Fish. Go for a mixture of native varieties and plenty of them Perch are very good eating. You may even find you have some already. Plant lots of reedmace, flag irises and other tall water plants to deter the Herons and make sure your pond is deep. The lillies and other water plants should keep the water clear and once you have everything growing the wildlife water attracts is astonishing.
I've got frogs, toads and quite a few different types of dragonfly and the swallows and bats love a bit of open water too. Then there's the ones that come for a drink. I made my lake with a shallow shelf before a deep drop off, anything falling in can climb out again and larger animals and many smaller birds can get to the water's edge for a sup. Oh and the other advantage to having fish is you could always pump the pondwater through an aquaponics set up.
I love my lake.:)
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Thanks Mike! I like the idea of planting the tall plants as it's practical and will make the pond look great! Any idea where to get hold of the fish to populate it? Any idea how many for my size pond?
 
I'll have a look through my paperwork and get back to you. The thing is to overpopulate it to start off with, some will die, some won't, a system soon finds it's equilibrium.
But before you do anything make a few bottle traps and put them in the pond, you may already have paying guests.;)

How to make a bottle trap.
 
WE have lots of frogs and even some newts, but the heron took all the fish despite the water lilies and the iris. It even took the brown fish that someone gave us. Good luck Denidoom, keep us updated.
 
MikeR said:
I'll have a look through my paperwork and get back to you. The thing is to overpopulate it to start off with, some will die, some won't, a system soon finds it's equilibrium.
But before you do anything make a few bottle traps and put them in the pond, you may already have paying guests.;)

How to make a bottle trap.
Click to expand...

How exciting! April, can't come quick enough, that's when I'm there next and I will use the bottle idea to see if I have any guests. You are a star!
 
That's given me some ideas for our pond which is 2 years old. Plenty of invertebrates living there but l think we would also suffer from heron depradations if we had fish. Mind you, l discovered recently that herons feed on voles, so that's why it's been hanging around here recently.
 
I've been reading up on our friend the heron and apparently the deeper the pond the better and also giving the fish some place to hide. Apparently the fish get shocked after a heron attack and can hide for quite some time and take to feeding at night. Quite a few people thinking they have lost them all, but more survived than was initially thought, they were just hiding.
 
Just found the first of this year's frogspawn - not in the pond but in a wet patch that dries out in summer (usually). The pond has some tadpoles that overwintered from last year. l don't know if this indicates lack of nutrients or what. Anybody have any ideas?
 
Barbara said:
Just found the first of this year's frogspawn - not in the pond but in a wet patch that dries out in summer (usually). The pond has some tadpoles that overwintered from last year. l don't know if this indicates lack of nutrients or what. Anybody have any ideas?
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Not sure Barbara, but there is a really interesting site all about spawn and tadpoles. Some suggestions on why they don't develop in time and have to over-winter. click here Here's what it says about them spawning in patches of water "Frogs may return to places where ponds used to be and, in desperation, spawn on the ground or in an unsuitable place. Often, frogs choose to lay spawn in small water bodies including puddles and garden tubs. This strategy can be beneficial for frogs – such ‘ponds’ often lack predators meaning the chances of tadpole survival could be higher. But it’s only successful if the tadpoles can develop and leave the ‘pond’ before it dries up so often the strategy fails and tadpoles are left without enough water to survive. To a degree this is a natural phenomenon, typical of amphibians around the world. However, you may want to ‘rescue’ such tadpole populations, either by regularly visiting the pond and topping it up (which may not be feasible) or by moving the spawn/tadpoles to another pond." (http://www.froglife.org/info-advice/frequently-asked-questions/spawn-tadpoles-behaviour/)
 
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I've had a few Geese and Ducks over the years, so Farmer Bob tells me whilst rubbing his belly.:rolleyes:
 
Denidoom said:
Not sure Barbara, but there is a really interesting site all about spawn and tadpoles. Some suggestions on why they don't develop in time and have to over-winter. click here Here's what it says about them spawning in patches of water "Frogs may return to places where ponds used to be and, in desperation, spawn on the ground or in an unsuitable place. Often, frogs choose to lay spawn in small water bodies including puddles and garden tubs. This strategy can be beneficial for frogs – such ‘ponds’ often lack predators meaning the chances of tadpole survival could be higher. But it’s only successful if the tadpoles can develop and leave the ‘pond’ before it dries up so often the strategy fails and tadpoles are left without enough water to survive. To a degree this is a natural phenomenon, typical of amphibians around the world. However, you may want to ‘rescue’ such tadpole populations, either by regularly visiting the pond and topping it up (which may not be feasible) or by moving the spawn/tadpoles to another pond." (http://www.froglife.org/info-advice/frequently-asked-questions/spawn-tadpoles-behaviour/)
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Thanks for that information, Denidoom. Since l posted that l found some frogspawn on top of a heap of soil OH dug out of a ditch. l put it in the pond but it might just provide food for the resident tadpoles which are looking nice and fat.
 
For those who have spawn already, it might be worth keeping a close eye out as we have at least a week of 0 degreed temps coming from friday.
 
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