Ponds


Pond> river intro

Water is the stuff of life... vital to wildlife garden residents or creatures passing through. Be it a narrow ‘gutter’ channel (Photo 1) connected to a mini sink-sized trough or a garden pond (2) insects, birds and mammals can drink their fill. And then there is the incredible variety of life living on and below the surface - plants and animals.

In hot weather we are all far too familiar with invasive threads of blanket weed (Spirogyra 1), more fancifully and romantically called ‘pond silk’ or ‘water silk’. Anyone who has tried to lift it out will confirm its fabric-like draping qualities! Tightly clothing a stone or cement edge, it wicks up water and holds it... this bee 


  is taking full advantage of this minimal garden water source.

In a pond proper


 Branched Bur-reed makes a good firm anchorage for another visiting insect to dip its tongue under.



Water plants can benefit wildlife from all over the garden. Nectar and pollen awaits insects in flowers of floating and marginal plants – here the delicate fringed flowers of Bogbean

In the wild, its beautiful pink clusters rise out of the still dark waters of Scottish lochs.

Conservation & Wildlife Gardening Tips: Metal in photo 5 is a recycled freezer basket, useful for keeping expanding roots in check – edges will be less obvious when leaves grow! The classic Water Lily


 offers prolific feed and its flat leaves offer welcome shelter and shade.

Look down, look closely... the surprise action and drama is in the detail... the miniature world of the inverts.


taken at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, shows a few of the many tiny water creatures. Their lives and interactions make the living jigsaw which holds the water world together...

One of these has a magic act of walking on the water. The Pond Skater, or Water Strider which spreads its weight across the surface ‘skin’ of the water, very visible in this photo


 as dents in the surface. They also have water repellent hairs to keep them high and dry! They live in slow-moving rivers as well.

Not many of us have the luxury of a river by the garden, but...

if you want to see living animals of fresh water and be completely awestruck by watery diversity in a river, put this date in your diary...

Wednesday 11th June 10:00-14:00

Guided Walk Along the Midford Brook

What3Words neon/spoon/care

Tickets available via ataafishing.net

(More details of watery events www.wildwatersfastival.com)


The True Mayfly - Ephemera danica - dances in a truly ephemeral display above our rivers. Photo credit: Philip Chant



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