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If you are digging a hole and using liner how are you setting your pond edge level?
By eye, king post horizontal board and spirit-level, laser level or clear plastic tube with water?
Am I overthinking this?
Went to look at a neighbours pond and there was six inches of liner showing on one side.
It was a big pond about four times the size of the one I am thinking of.
We're moving into a new place tomorrow and it comes with a series of natural ponds / lakes... the fields drain into a stream which fills the top lake. Once that's full apparently you open the sluice gate into the lower one.
Looking forward to seeing what critters we get in them...
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meesterbond - that is fabulous. I'm slightly envious to say the least.
Please keep us updated as to the creatures and wildlife you see in and around your waters.
If you are digging a hole and using liner how are you setting your pond edge level?
By eye, king post horizontal board and spirit-level, laser level or clear plastic tube with water?
Am I overthinking this?
Went to look at a neighbours pond and there was six inches of liner showing on one side.
It was a big pond about four times the size of the one I am thinking of.
We did ours mostly by eye with a bit of half-hearted level work but it's better if you do put some effort into the levels. When I get round to it I'm going to adjust the liner/paving levels in a couple of places on ours as it varies by 2-3 inches and, as you say, the liner becomes more prominent in the higher bits when the water level drops.
Meesterbond, that is not a pond! Very, very nice, although looks like you may need a bit of maintenance on the jetty...
Bunnyhop
Member
meesterbond – that is fabulous. I’m slightly envious to say the least.
Please keep us updated as to the creatures and wildlife you see in and around your waters.Posted 23 minutes ago
Wouldn't catch me moving there, have you seen the state of that landing jetty. 😉
The jetty needs a little work.
I got an email saying that the current owners are leaving the rowing boat... I'm rather hoping he has another one I haven't seen.
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After a day of driving about trying to find a few extra bags of topsoil and pissing about digging and levelling soil in a few square meters, I'm not sure I can relate to someone having issues with a sodding jetty.
Gonna need a bigger boat!
@meesterbond - chop chop, we're all waiting for pics of wildlife in Coniston Water.
In a thread which has slower progress and equal dullness to that of my house renovations: lawn prepped, top-soiled, all sown and no sign of a jeffin' pond. Liner still not available, so bought a few bee/frog hidey-hole plants to add around the edges instead...when the time comes.
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Frogs also like a bit of a log pile.
I have plenty of logs ready to pile for a frog home. Will also dig it down a bit, as the internet suggests they like a bit of a shallow, logs and a bit of turf on top.
Still no sodding liner so at the moment, so it's still just a hole for me to keep falling into.
getting started on my wildlife pond this weekend hopefully - have a pre-dug hole that is currently a sandpit for the kids which they are no longer interested in, I have ordered a pre-formed pond and a fountain/filter. Hoping to scrounge some rockery off freecycle/freegle
Mine went completely cloudy yesterday afternoon. It's normally crystal clear. Caused by the heat? Clear again this morning 🤔
All systems go!
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I'm sweating more than I thought was possible, and that EPDM stuff is hotter than a pop-tart.
So, yeah. I've got an expensive muddy puddle. This was totally worth it.
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I'm sure it'll get better. On the plus side it's all fairly level and any low spots I'm packing out underneath the liner with sand. I'm done for today though, will restart operation pond when it's a bit cooler - say 3am or November.
It's pretty exciting times on STW. Not only do we have bear who's been, for the last few months possibly, cogitating/designing/digging/waiting forever on supplies to arrive and now has water in his pond BUT we also have the legendary Poopscoop planning one of his adventures which will inevitably guarantee that Forumites will be going without sleep and worrying about where the heck he is and praying he's in one piece.
Love you guys, don't ever stop being YOU!
Well that didn't take long.
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Bravo!
Keep the progress reports coming!
A new friend ... how exciting!
My wife wanted a little wildlife pond so got a 300 litre preformed liner and over the last few mornings put it in where an old shed had stood. Waiting to get plants and for the wildlife to show up.
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I've always suspected I had two frogs living under my planters.
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God knows how as there are no ponds in the area, according to google maps, but they appear to be happy with their new home.
Flexing:
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Wonderful and a reward for your hard work. Do keep us updated.
Brilliant. I hope this thread will run and run and we'll get to see the fruits of our labour - lots of wildlife, insects, birds, bees and creatures of the pond.
So looking forward to the day I see a dragonfly. It's the reason we decided to make our mini pond larger.
Good weekend to get your new ponds filled, as there's plenty of rainwater to be gathered.
I'm excited as a native water lily I bought last year is flowering.
Is there any good way of attracting newts? Lots of frogs round here but never seen a newt, nor in any other gardens round here. Never seen a dragonfly either.
Is there any good way of attracting newts? Lots of frogs round here but never seen a newt, nor in any other gardens round here. Never seen a dragonfly either.
Amphibians like somewhere to hibernate in winter fairly close. A damp pile of wood, or you can make your own den for them. Dragonflies just need water and lots of plants AFAIK.
Talking of dragonflies...
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This handsome fella just hopped into the car whilst I was getting more pond plants earlier. I let him go, despite the fleeting temptation to bring him home and force him to take residence in my garden.
I mean, look at his current residence.
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This is getting a bit ridiculous now. Just looking out the window and saw a beast of a frog (in comparison to the other two) leg it across the not-yet-a-lawn and launch itself into the pond.
No pictures I'm afraid as he's at the bottom & it's too cloudy after putting plants in, but having walked over to introduce myself I spotted a fourth! Different colouring to the larger one of yesterday's visitors.
Bloody brilliant.
Next thread: Help, my garden is overrun with frogs.
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Brilliant!! That's great. Frog trip advisor must be kicking off!
All we've got in the Covid pond so far is fly larvae, it's gone a bit green and the local pigeons have started a spa.
The wood arrived for the other part of the project though, so on with that soon and hopefully we can get the water moving between the two to clean things up a bit. We had some left over liner, so have built another pond and woodpile at the bottom of the garden in the hope to attract some slimy reptiles and giant flying insects. Fingers crossed.
Is there mileage in getting a bucket of sludge and tadpoles from another pond to move things along a bit?
This is getting a bit ridiculous now.
Bloody, bloody ridiculous! We’ve had our pond about 10 years, and not a sniff of a frog ☹️.
No other gardens around here have ponds. Next door monoblocked their whole front garden, which doesn’t help.
Well done, I’m very envious!
Talking of dragonflies…
I think that's a damselfly.
Fat lad and the lady (I think, or maybe the other way around) are now posing for photos in the rain.
(and really sorry gauss, I can only guess there's some sort of frog holding area nearby I'm not aware of. According to the internet this is nowhere near ready for frogs yet - which a) shows what does the internet know sometimes and b) gives me a bit of a headache actually getting about and finishing the pond - I have to lift up every bit of liner as I'm walking about..just in case!)
I think that’s a damselfly
Right you are, thanks, I thought it was a bit small for a dragonfly.
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Right you are, thanks, I thought it was a bit small for a dragonfly.
I was trying to identify a similar creature on my pond... apart from size, a key characteristic is that damselfly wings are back in line with their body when they're not flying. According to Google, anyway.
Great result on the frogs. We get the occasional one but never any frog spawn. Always get toadspawn though and this year was the first year I’ve seen a lot of baby toads - 100s of them and then they left the pond pretty much overnight when we had that heavy rain at the end of the May heatwave. Might have been encouraged by the grass snake I found swimming across the pond...
I'll upload pictures later but, mines evolved into an urban/wildlife pond with a couple of fish (was loads but years of heron attacks have put paid to them), frogs and newts
Anyway pond weed has taken over, I can pull out a bin bag full every week. Bar draining it and scrubbing it clean does anyone have any tips on removing it/slowing it down
willjones - I believe it's best to let nature take it's course in tadpoles (frogspawn) arriving by itself next season. The reasoning being not moving things from other areas, which may cause infection.
Our pond has turned green too. I think not enough rain. A friend said add a barley straw bag.
Anyway pond weed has taken over, I can pull out a bin bag full every week. Bar draining it and scrubbing it clean does anyone have any tips on removing it/slowing it down
I've found this stuff excellent...
CLEAR waters Nishikoi Blanketweed Treatment
https://www.nishikoi.com/clearwatersbiologicalsolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/62913906@N03/50058851948/in/dateposted-public/
Heres our pond that we made last month. Only 4m x 2m but we hope to attract a decent variety of wildlife. Already had the birds having a bath and a drink and got a few little beasties swimming around.
If that's 4m long how big's your cat???
Lol, I thought that about the cat circa 1.5m long!
Great thread and potentially disastrous/spanner in the works/suitably timely as we are looking to renovate our garden this year and I fancied a pond. What's the view of pre-made liners, presumably a bit more robust and easy to install but of limited styles/designs?
Also loving the wildlife style gardens, they do look very tranquil.
Great thread and potentially disastrous/spanner in the works/suitably timely as we are looking to renovate our garden this year and I fancied a pond. What’s the view of pre-made liners, presumably a bit more robust and easy to install but of limited styles/designs?
Do it 🙂 Ponds are great.
Preformed liners are easier and tougher. I'd still put some old carpet underneath. I think the main issue is cost as they get bigger. So good for smaller ponds. For a 1000 gallon pond you're looking at a couple of grand for a decent fibreglass one.
We had a tiny plastic pond when we moved here. Neglected, full of black sludge. After a few months, I emptied it and there was one, small goldfish at the bottom I didn't even know was there. So I set about building a new home for him. Much happier now I assume.
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Hmm, yes not the best angle that. Maybe it just felt like 4m when I was digging it out! Heres a better angle....
Your garden is amazing.
My wild lawn patch is a no mow area, in the shape of a heart. Hubby is not amused, hahaha.
The no mow area is a great idea, just leave it and see what grows. We put ours under the bird feeder so all the seeds fall there and you can get loads of wild flowers. Great hiding place for frogs, newts and other pond beasties too.
I’ve found this stuff excellent…
CLEAR waters Nishikoi Blanketweed Treatment
Bit more info on this stuff. Works very well, but you do need to keep on top of removing/filtering the now-dead weed. Important if you have fish, as ammonia levels can spike which can burn them I think. Mine did this but has now settled back to normal.
Sleeping frog at 6am.
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I poked him with a bit of pond grass (because I'm an arsehole) and he just half-arsedly kicked his leg as if to say "piss off I'm sleeping". So I did.
I noticed that the RSPB are selling pond kits (available in August).
The kits contain: Durable liner, recycled fleece underlay, and an expert guide to creating the perfect wildlife pond.
2m x 2m liner and 5m x 2m fleece underlay £20
3m x 3m " " " " " " " £30
4m x 3m " " 8m x 2m " " £45
From the RSBP web shop rspbshop.co.uk or call 0345 0347733
Good shout!
Because I’m an idiot, I’m redoing a large part of the garden and making a wildlife pond
Idiotic, agreed. Astroturf is the new. Wildlife can do one. Nature is overrated. A lawn OTOH can only ever be rated.
bear - I noticed you said there were no ponds around you, but there's a big one sandwiched between West St and Station Rd, just on the other side of the moor from you 🙂
Good point..bloody intrepid little sods if they travel that far though!
How are everyone's ponds? Dragonflies are out now. This one had been in a fight with something, had a damaged wing so moved him somewhere safe 🤞🏻 Sometimes happens I think when they emerge.
Wow!
A dragonfly in our garden last summer, was what prompted us to get rid of the small pond (which is now in a neighbours garden and bringing in lots of wildlife, which her children love), then replacing it with something a lot bigger.
So far its produced about 50 waterboatmen, frogs, spawn and a pond skater. With many tiny beasts that I can't identify yet. One can but hope for a dragonfly as magnificent as your specimen.
Dug a hole at the weekend and just waiting for the liner to turn up. Think I've managed to scavenge some old carpet off freecycle to line it with. Had to bank the edges up a bit as the natural water table is stopping me digging it any deeper!
Yes, I know the fence is a state. I don't care.
If i can make a suggestion, you might want to move it away from the fence. I do realise how much of a ball ache that will be.
I've just dug mine (out of clay soil 👌) and filled it and realised it's next to impossible to get round the back to do maintenance. It looked like I had loads of space before I put the stones there, now there's not quite enough to stand comfortably.
This is the only pic I have as it's not done, but I think you can make out how close the fence is on the left. I wish i'd left a foot more space.
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Slight hi jack but a question for any pond diggers present - is there an optimum shape that is easier to bed the liner into?
I marked out an elliptical shape because my liner is oblong and ponds are roundish.
Then thinking about it if the maximum pond size for my liner is 1.8 x 3 x .9 why not dig a rectangle with rounded corners? It wont look very natural to start with but by the time it is planted and landscaped the overall shape will be lost - hopefully.
Gentle slopes make it easier, you have to think a bit in 3D. One of mine is roughly triangular and deep with vertical sides in the right-angle corner which was a bit awkward. Though liners have a bit of give and folds aren't really a problem, except for using up more material than you might expect. I actually had to invest in a bit of glue and stick a spare bit on to finish off the shallow side which was embarrassing but has held up. I didn't dig it that shape (and wouldn't recommend it) but was renovating an existing pond after moving in.
most of articles I have read recommend a kidney shaped pond as corners cause issues with flow of water e.g. https://anypond.com/pond-shapes/
retro83 - I'm afraid I couldn't face moving it away from the fence. Hopefully won't need to get down that side of it too often. Just waiting for the wildlife to arrive now!
Looks good!
Dragging this up as we've had a pond put in over lock down 🙂
The sound of water in the garden is lovely (and a great distraction for a tinnitus sufferer!). Few bits to finish off, but fish are in and seem happy.
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Second wave? SECOND POND!
Started on the 'BOTTOM POND' (arf) on sat. Had to move the giant Hydrangea to the front, which has gone in the place of a massive cypress tree which we had to get taken out (too close to the house) so quite a chain of events to get here. Liner just ordered. Now having a right do over pumps and filters. The internet suggests I need a massive pump to make the waterfall work - 120cm wide waterfall x 1.5 x 60 gives 10800 litres per hour. Is that right do your reckon? Also under what circumstances would I need a filter? 
The mk1 covid infinity pond has been a great hit over the summer. Lot's of larvae initially and manky green water, added a cheap little solar fountain, lily and some pointy oxygenating stuff and it's now crystal clear and we can finally see where our 4 year old hid all the clothes pegs... still no lily flowers (prob transplanted a bit late) and I'd also like a dragonfly.
Sudden thought while posting... might this be too noisy?!
And we're working!
Bit of tidying to do, but have cut and fitted the top row of sleepers to the lower pond, sprayed the overflow black and begun tidying the piping/cabling. We've had a run of cold and very wet weather, so struggling to seal the rear of the bottom pond so no extended running until this is sorted. Thinking about fixing a thin copper strip across the spillway to smooth the flow. Pump is 12500 litres per hr, and just about up to the job. Would go for a narrower fall next time though. Also had an important reminder of physics. Turned the pump off with the hose in the upper pond, and it all siphoned back through the pump into the bottom pond, overflowing onto the garden and emptying the top pond. Good job no fish involved. Inflow pipe now terminates above the waterline, after passing through a 40mm hole in the top sleeper. Just some tinkering to do now, and hopefully the planting will all recover/grow up nicely to soften the lower one.
We have frogspawn!!!
Good thread resurrection. 👍🏻
Our new pond attracted loads of frogs and newts this spring.
sadly the local cats have killed all our frogs. Over 20 now gone, the cats chew their heads up and leave the bodies, often full of spawn. 😞
We try our best to encourage birds and frogs and selfish people's cats just destroy the lot. I'd happily shoot them all.
F
Oh sad. I like cats but they do so much damage.
Our 3 large plops of spawn arrived Sunday morning. I was worried as the pond has been freezing over, even up to the few days before the spawning.
Our toad spawn arrived Sunday too. Pond had ice on it Saturday.
Ah nothing in mine we did have a wintering toad hiding in the rocks/water splash thing.
Oh well onto the bee hotel with grass/clover roof that I'm doing next.
My dissatisfied with the frogs/toads lazyness has been rewarded with lots of eggs this morning they must be late starters. ,👍👍👍
No frogspawn here 🙁 Trust me to build a pond that doesn't attract a female.
No frogspawn here 🙁 Trust me to build a pond that doesn’t attract a female
Update!
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Not a lot, but exciting nevertheless.
We have loads of frogspawn (as usual) but we also have newts and I think they love eating the tadpoles.
Looking for a lady (or boy) friend 🙂
Good thread this. Think I would like a pond - I have a blank canvas garden project on for the next few years... we were saying a nice water feature my be a good idea for draining surrounding areas and the trickle of a fountain will hide the distant hum of the motorway we get on some days...
One question tho for those of you with tons of frogs and newts - do you have dogs also? Just because my mrs does not respond too kindly when my dogs bring dead frogs in the house! I also don’t want my dogs to be froggy murderers either. In addition, I’m fairly sure my Airedale will jump in the pond at every opportunity!
No dogs here. The blackbirds and magpies had been snacking on our tadpoles though - I've installed some mesh protection for the little wrigglers.
Also have a fine selection of newts - I'm told the smaller ones are Palmate Newts and the big one is a Smooth Newt. No Great Crested yet.
That's a brilliant photo!
A less brilliant one, of some bank holiday canoodling.
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I've let nature take over mine for now lots of tadpole action although I did put a lot of water fleas in and horn snails in.
Lotus Lilly is going well it looks a little messy but they all seem to be enjoying it
Having a burst of various bits of weedy/algae stuff, but I don't have the heart to remove it
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