Digging a pond - Katie Fuller

Katie Fuller's pond

I'm really fortunate to be renting a house with a big garden - about 21 m x 24 m (23 yards x 27 yards).

It's nearly all lawn, which I find quite boring - since I don't host garden parties or play croquet -so I've been looking for ways to exploit the garden's wildlife potential. A pond seemed the ideal way to do that, especially as I'm fascinated by dragonflies and always loved pond-dipping as a kid.

Our landlord is very keen on conservation and was happy for us to dig a smallish pond, so in late June work commenced.

'I love peering into the depths to see what else has turned up.'

It was hard! Our soil is a heavy clay and there was a lot of it to shift - the pond measures 3.5 x 2.5 x 0.75 m (11'6" x 8'2" x 2'6"). It took nearly two days to dig the hole, make sure the edges were level, put in underlay and the liner, and finally add the magic ingredient - water (from the tap).

By the time it was full and I'd installed a few pond plants, I was exhausted!

Result!

Payback time started less than 24 hours later, when a pondskater arrived on the breeze. After a week, some water beetles had found us, pondskater numbers had doubled and goldfinches had been for a dip and a drink.

On day 14, I watched as a gorgeous male broad-bodied chaser dragonfly did battle with a four-spotted chaser, while azure damselflies laid eggs! Four weeks on, the pond had attracted more dragonflies, more weird and wonderful insects, a common frog and a newt. Success!

I'm a keen photographer and have been trying to document the pond's progress. It's been utterly fascinating to see how a little ecosystem has developed and I love peering into the depths to see what else has turned up. The other week, I finally got a photo of our resident newt. It looked a bit darker than the pictures in my books, and had white spots, so I sent it to a knowledgeable friend and he replied 'it's a male great crested'!

The day after the newt was correctly identified, I found it had been joined by another, this time a female. I watched as the male did a little courtship dance - he did a handstand and arched his back, presumably to show her his bright orange belly. We hope they'll stay around to breed next year and we're going to build a logpile to provide somewhere safe for them to hibernate.

I still can't believe that such a special animal found our pond so quickly.

Homes for Wildlife tips

Katie has done a fantastic job establishing her pond and attracting so much wildlife so quickly. Here are a few more ideas for her garden that could boost its wildlife value even further.

  • Introducing a log pile would be a great way of providing an additional refuge for amphibians (frogs, toads and newts) and reptiles.
  • Allowing vegetation to grow longer around part of the pond will improve cover for amphibians and allow them safe movement to and from the water.
  • Providing an area of longer vegetation will provide invertebrates with somewhere to breed, feed and shelter in. Invertebrates are an important part of the diet of amphibians. 
  • Long vegetation is particularly beneficial to dragonflies and damselflies. Some will use it to emerge in. Damselflies in particular use it also to hunt in and as shelter when caught out by a sudden change in weather.
  • Introducing herbaceous flowering plants will benefit pollinating insects.
  • Katie could use soil and any available rubble and logs from digging the pond to make a hibernaculum for the newts and other amphibians and reptiles in the area that may use the new pond.

What can I do?

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Last modified: 14 August 2008