Forum home Wildlife gardening
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Building a wildlife pond

11011121416

Posts

  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    drizzle??? oh my, I vaguely remember that, its some kind of liquid if memory serves me right
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    Any signs of life yet @Valley Gardener?

    Im absolutley over the moon at the moment, just discovered our pair of newts which arrived and I thought were 1 year old juveniles were obviously more mature (or early starters!) as have started spotting lots of efts in the pond this week! I saw what looked like a fish fry last week dart through the water and was scratching my head as to where it could have come from, but then after keeping out a closer eye than usual I spotted a very small newt which looked like it still had gills. In the few days since I've seen more and more of them, and this morning when clearing out some blanketweed I found a tiny one that was obviously very newly hatched.
    Is this really late for them to be spwaning? I know they spawn later than frogs, but the eggs must have been laid in late June, early July I guess
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    When we lived on a smallholding not that far from you as the crow flies IIRC 'our' Gt Cresteds spawned in June.

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    ah great. Been doing some reading and yep they can still be breeding into July. Cue more weeks of lying on the bridge staring into the water...
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    Just managed to get a couple of photos of one 


  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    Ah,that's lovely,So far just a couple of waterboatmen in mine,but the duck weed has increased,so there will be a bit more cover.I've put a couple of those lettuce things in too,on which were baby snails! So I didn't have to pay for them!
    The river is nearby,do you think newts and frogs may come from there?It flows over stones and rocks but there are also small pools?
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    edited July 2018
    I should imagine they will come along next spring if not before. They live most of their lives on land so if you have any overgrown areas in the garden or nearby then it's likely they will already be in the vicinity. The water may well attract some much sooner though.

    Good news about the water boatmen, plenty of other little beasties should follow them sooner rather than later
  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    Isn't it daft,I'm so thrilled with this little pond,we've always had a pond but it's been OHs baby,Gold fish,then a bigger deeper pond for Koi,so never had one of my own,with a beach and old bits of rotting tree stumps nearby! There are lots of hiding places in the rocks too.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    Nothing daft at all, they're absolutely captivating, I could (and do) look into it for hours

    Sounds like amphibious heaven with the rotting wood etc, so I'm pretty sure you will get visitors. There is the chance you have already got frogs and newts in the garden anyway and just don't see them. Even before we had the pond I would come across them under logs and even had a great crested newt under the doormat one winter.  
  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    OMG!.........now I'm getting really excited!😁
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
Sign In or Register to comment.