How can I make it look natural?
The trick with creating a natural-looking pond is to build the edging so that all traces of the construction materials are completely hidden from view. For example, with a bit of forward
planning, it is easily possible to conceal the edges of a butyl pond liner.
Here, while you cannot see anything on the surface other than plants, rocks and earth, below the surface there is a concrete and brick foundation that holds everything in place.
An area of low-angled shingle beach allows easy access to the water, and is a safer option if children and elderly people use the garden.
Design Components
A small island, together with a shelter, gives ducks and other water birds a safe retreat where land predators cannot reach them.
The easiest option is to build the pond using a flexible butyl liner protected with layers of geotextile. Although the building procedures are easy enough, it is the details that help to give the total area its character – the shape and depth of the pond, the size of the bog area, the number and depth of the planting shelves, the height of the pond-edge wall, the number of trees, and so on. If you get the details right, then success will be sure to follow.
The trick with creating a natural-looking pond is to build the edging so that all traces of the construction materials are completely hidden from view. For example, with a bit of forward
planning, it is easily possible to conceal the edges of a butyl pond liner.
Here, while you cannot see anything on the surface other than plants, rocks and earth, below the surface there is a concrete and brick foundation that holds everything in place.
An area of low-angled shingle beach allows easy access to the water, and is a safer option if children and elderly people use the garden.
Design Components
For maximum impact and to attract a broad range of creatures, a good wildlife pond needs to be as large as possible, with lots of ground cover, trees and all the decaying debris that such a scenario produces. A design that draws inspiration from a woodland glade is a good option. The components are a small, level area of grass or woodchips, a pond, a meandering path, a place to sit, trees all around, and lots of decaying wood and leaves.
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
• The pond will need to be cleaned out at the start and finish of the season. Remove debris and pile it up at the water’s edge so that it can rot down, and so that water creatures can make it back to the water.
• Clean the bird boxes out in winter.
• Make sure the paths are clear, so that you can enjoy the garden and see all the various
bird boxes.
Children and elderly people A garden like this is going to be shady with lots of wood and leaf debris underfoot, and of course the water. You will attract wildlife, but there will be insects, a fair amount of mud at the edges of the pond, and an apparently uncared-for look.
If you have a family, say with small children and elderly people, then is a garden of this character going to be safe? It is true that you will have to spend extra time watching your children and generally making sure that they are out of harm’s way, and elderly people will have to take extra care, but just think how exciting it will be for your kids and elderly relatives to watch wildlife in reality rather than on the television.
A small island, together with a shelter, gives ducks and other water birds a safe retreat where land predators cannot reach them.
HOW TO BUILD A WILDLIFE POND
The easiest option is to build the pond using a flexible butyl liner protected with layers of geotextile. Although the building procedures are easy enough, it is the details that help to give the total area its character – the shape and depth of the pond, the size of the bog area, the number and depth of the planting shelves, the height of the pond-edge wall, the number of trees, and so on. If you get the details right, then success will be sure to follow.
Cross-section detail
This illustrates the pond construction method described above and shows how the liner is cleverly
concealed from view.
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