Wildlife Pond

[j.w]

That's a very nice pond Anthony! It looks so natural I can't believe it's man made!

 

[addy1]

Love how it looks, I am really into natural looking ponds, you did great.

 

[herzausstahl]

LOL I haven't checked this thread soon enough! So I'll be responding/asking questions to many at once.

But the pump set up could be the same just without the fountain head .They just float the pump in that set up so it does not get clogged up

I thought about putting it on a rock or a crate of some kind, something not too invasive.

Herz, they also do this with planted aquariums, use a real soil mixture. Here is a link.

http://www.plantedta...-pros-cons.html

thanks, I forgot from your previous posts that you are an active aquarist also

I've had wildlife ponds, both lined and mud bottom.

Adding clay soil is better imo than loam or top soil. Lots of organics in top soil that float. You can skim it off of course. But clay is more like what would be there. Adding soil is just a way to jump start the process. You can add leaves if you like as food for the insects. Leaves aren't as messy.

You can run a pump, but generally it should be on the small side. A pump isn't needed since we're talking about creating an environment for creatures evolved for still conditions. Adding O2 can mess things up by giving one bug a leg up over another bug. I wouldn't run the pump as you are adding soil, nor point putting grit through it. And I'd let it settle. Wildlife ponds take a lot longer to get going. Can take days, weeks for the muddy water to settle.

Most wildlife ponds I ran into did have fish, even a few goldfish. But small minnow type fish were more the norm, looked more natural.

It isn't commonly thought mosquito dunks kill dragonfly larvae, or most other bugs. I've read people in pond forums say they used dunks and still had dragonfly larvae for what that's worth. I haven't seen any specific testing. However, we're talking about a wildlife pond, mosquitoes are an important part of that mix. Lots of things eat mosquito larve. Minnows can be a part of that, but there are bugs that eat the larva as it hatches, when too small for fish. So I wouldn't use any mosquito control except during start up if I could actually see mosquito larva.

With water gardens you really don't need to understand much about how ponds work. There's not a lot going on. Wildlife ponds really require a more fact based understanding wholistic approach. The best thing you can do is forget everything you know about ponds because almost everything about water gardens is myth. Muck is toxic, still water is toxic, Skippy is required for clear water, moving water is needed for O2, on and on the myths will fall.

Wildlife ponds are much less about control, and all about seeing how nature runs a pond.

thanks waterbug, its kinda funny cus I've run into your posts on other forums during my research and figured you might have tried what i was looking for and at the very least give me a different perspective on it. i did like the idea of clay over soil since that is what i have but have read that it takes awhile to settle. if i did a pump it would be to run a small waterfall that would trickle into the pond, not a raging torrent or anything. if i did fish it would be a very small load and either rosy red minnows or something local from a bait shop. i really don't want any ornamental fish so that they don't eat the other wildlife i am looking to attract with this pond. i did think about the mosquito dunks as i have begun reading more and as you say so many things will either rely on the larvae or take care of it, but i definitely would need them at first until it settled and i added at least minnow to keep them under control, the mosquito is often called the unofficial wisconsin state bird. and i have already seen how a lot of the natural ponders (a lot in england it looks like) strive for a balance with design and plants and accept seasonal algae blooms or dig out the excess algae and let the ponds naturalize on their own. a holistic approach is a good way to put it. i'm not sure though I can go as far as calling all the extra filters, skimmers, etc useless because it all depends on the type of pond you are creating. in the one i want to design, definitely not needed, but for those who are pushing the limits with a fishload, they come in handy, but that isn't to say a necessity in every pond. i know the usual argument you are referring too, that all ponds in nature have an influx of freshwater, but I know several around here that become stagnant in the middle of summer when the creeks dry up and we don't get rain for days on end and all the wildlife is doing just fine.

I shall give them a try in there addy!

Here's what it looked like at one time. It's a mess right now. Need to clean it out and put in the litter and start over w/ the smaller type lilies. See what big leaves the ones I have in there now have.

JW,
I bet that would look even cooler if you had it above ground.

 

[herzausstahl]

Hi,

I'm new here, and my pond sort of fits your description. It is a small pond with a liner that I hand dug into the base of a granite ledge. I use a small pump that feeds a canister filter, and the out flow forms a small stream between the natural rock and then trickles down into the pond.

The pond is located on a wooded lot under a several large trees. We get a lot of wildlife visitors including wood frogs, peepers and dragonflies (or maybe they are damsel flies). Lots of birds visit all year round, from bluebirds to wild turkeys, and deer often stop by for a drink.

The water is clear and we have a small school of goldfish and koi who are quite happy and doing well. But the pond is far from the glass-clear water that I see in many of the ponds featured here. I refer to it as a naturalistic pond, and I like it's cottage garden appearance. I hope you like it! Cheers!

That looks awesome, I wish I had a natural stone formation like that! Looks great!

 

[herzausstahl]

Basically my other pond was added to give my yard a stream that I was missing with a lot of rushing water and waterfalls, but also aren't the greatest for wildlife that needs an easy entrance to get in or not a ton of moving water. So I am looking to add this with a second pond. Plus I still have a lot of yard to landscpe in, that I am slowly filling up each summer. It all goes back to that I grew up on the side of a ravine surrounded by woods and now live in a suburban neighborhood, so I am slowly trying transforming my yard into my own version of paradise.

 

[msgsfc1006]

I have a mud pond that holds about 25,000 gallons of water. I added Koi almost 2 years ago and they have tripled their size and are very healthy. I place a 4,000 gph pump in a laundry basket and ran a small waterfall weir to it. TI test the water and haven't had any problems with levels. However, the downside is not being able to see the fish as well. The upside is that keeps them safe from the hawks that tend to hunt my bird feeders.
I have a biological filter I am about to hook up to the water fall and see how it does. Hopefully it won't clog up.

 

[Waterbug]

i know the usual argument you are referring too, that all ponds in nature have an influx of freshwater, but I know several around here that become stagnant in the middle of summer when the creeks dry up and we don't get rain for days on end and all the wildlife is doing just fine.

Maybe some wires got crossed, but to be clear, the vast majority of "ponds in nature" I've had experience with were man made and did not have any influx of freshwater other than rain. One pond I knew did have springs. All ponds I knew are what people would call "stagnant". Most everyone where I grew up had a mud bottom pond or two and no one called them "stagnant". City people would, but they really had no clue.

To me ponds are a spectrum from wildlife pond on one end and swimming pools on the other. I use water garden to describe everything between wildlife and Koi pond which is a pretty wide range.

A great feature for attracting wildlife is a big shallow area, like 1" to 3" deep. Great for bird bathing. Keep brush back maybe 5' so cats can't ambush and plant taller shrubs around it to give the birds a place to stage and see if it's safe. Tall shrubs can reduce hawk attacks. The birds seem to feel safer anyways. One of my favorite ponds just because of the amount of birds.

 

[addy1]

The birds hang out in my maple, then fly down to the bushes near the bog, then pop into the bog for their bath. I keep 2-3 places with around 2 inches water above the pea gravel. They all love it. I saw some bathing in the stream recently, in one of the small ponds, hopping from leaf to leaf. Fun to watch.

 

[pondlover]

Herz you are definitely creating a paradise. What you have done so far is fantastic.

JW - what are the grass type plants next to your tub?

 

[j.w]

PL I looked it up in my files that I save for each plant that I buy and I think it is Carex conica 'Hime Kansugi'. It's a type of dwarf sedge.
Here's a link that tells a bit about it: http://www.europeann...?album=31&pos=0

 

[herzausstahl]

Maybe some wires got crossed, but to be clear, the vast majority of "ponds in nature" I've had experience with were man made and did not have any influx of freshwater other than rain. One pond I knew did have springs. All ponds I knew are what people would call "stagnant". Most everyone where I grew up had a mud bottom pond or two and no one called them "stagnant". City people would, but they really had no clue.

To me ponds are a spectrum from wildlife pond on one end and swimming pools on the other. I use water garden to describe everything between wildlife and Koi pond which is a pretty wide range.

A great feature for attracting wildlife is a big shallow area, like 1" to 3" deep. Great for bird bathing. Keep brush back maybe 5' so cats can't ambush and plant taller shrubs around it to give the birds a place to stage and see if it's safe. Tall shrubs can reduce hawk attacks. The birds seem to feel safer anyways. One of my favorite ponds just because of the amount of birds.

Fair enough waterbug. The stagnant ponds I was referring too are the catch basins on the two waterfalls that I go visit around here that are full of plants, frogs, crayfish and insects that become stagnant ponds when the creeks that feed them run dry every summer, sometimes for weeks on end when we have a draught and you still see all the wildlife doing just fine. Also I was referring to the creek that runs behind my parents house (its at the bottom of a ravine) that runs dry every summer usually when we get little rain and hot weather. It creates several little stagnant pools and stretches of water in the stream, some in sun and others in shade that will also go for weeks at a time without any new water being introduced, but you still see all the bugs, baby crayfish, and the little minnows that are in there. They all survive just fine.

I was planning on building a gentle sloped "beach" area just like you described for birds and other animals to have easy access to the pond and I even thought of a trickle/falls type stream to give them the same thing and then it wouldn't be a torrent entering the pond disturbing the water surface too much. I know my design on this will be a little out of the box type thinking (potentially) than a lot of the other ponds on here and based on the posts of yours I have read, you seem like one who has either researched or personal experience with the type of pond I will want to make this one, all assuming of course I can sell my wife on the idea as it is her yard too.

 

[addy1]

I have a walk out area for critter in my pond, so far all that has walked out has been some deer. Now with the heron around I have a piece of chicken wire across that gentle slope, why make it easy for the bird to walk in.....lol
The small birds bath in the stream or bog, the raccoons drink out of the walkout area.

 

[taherrmann4]

Herz sounds like it is going to be a neat wildlife pond. Can't wait to see the construction pics and the final result.

 

[addy1]

Herz sounds like it is going to be a neat wildlife pond. Can't wait to see the construction pics and the final result.

I think it should take up the rest of the yard! make the wildlife really happy.

 

[Waterbug]

know my design on this will be a little out of the box type thinking

That's the fun part.