Here’s a post from one of our younger members, who has made the most of some spare time during lockdown to build a new back-garden pond.
“Since the days are long during lockdown, me and my dad decided to start on a pond in our back garden. I’ve been waiting to put in a pond for almost a year now, since I moved to the Dales and started a project on my new garden.
It was a quite a simple process, we dug a hole to a size we wanted (2m×2m×0.7m). Most ponds have to fit a certain design, banks at the sides, a slow decline with plateaus and on the other end of the pond a steep incline. These features of a pond are useful for animals, since they can bathe on the banks of a pond and if they fall in deeper, have help from the plateaus.
It is a great idea to have a pond, even if it does flood in this Dales climate. The biodiversity and increase in wildlife you get when putting in a pond is exponential, especially for bird and aquatic lovers.”
We look forward to getting some more pictures once the pond is complete! If you’re interested in building your own pond then the RSPB has lots of good information on its website – linked here.
Great work Sam. Ponds are brilliant for attracting wildlife – although my Dad always said you needed two ponds – one for goldfish, and one for everything else. Used to love seeing dragonflies and the like when we had one.