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frogs and belfast sink pond

crispin evanscrispin evans Posts: 5
in Wildlife gardening
I am just built a pond using two belfast sinks. As you can see the top one is a flower bed the second I have converted into a pond with plants. The pond is set in a raised bed, which i know will act as barrier to wildlife. I would like to minimise the barrier.

I would like to encourage frogs in garden. If I relocates some frog spawn to the pond how do I maximise pond for frog habitat.  How high can frogs climb can you make steps.

Under the flower bed belfast sink their is space. Should i fill this in or leave space underneath. 
Any advice warmly welcome.

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hi @crispin evans - you can use logs or rocks to help with access, especially in and out of the pond itself - straight sides aren't so good for small creatures, or for birds to get in and bathe.
    Frogs don't actually spend a lot of time in the water, especially in summer, but can easily jump a fair height, so they'll be able to get into the space fairly easily.  :)
    I'm not too sure what you mean about the space under the flower bed though. There seems to be quite a lot of empty space to the left of the sinks - is that what you mean?
    All wildlife benefits from other planting around the water, so that they have cover when accessing the water itself. The more planting you can add to the surrounding area, the better it will be, but little shady gaps are great for frogs/toads to shelter in, especially during summer.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    We have a Belfast sink pond outside our backdoor which is set on bricks because the drive is concrete. It was setup because our dog likes to drink water outside but I added pond plants to make it a bit nicer. It has a frog who easily gets in and out despite it being off the ground and it happily croaks most of the year there (they don't spend all their time in water but this one seemed to love it there all last summer, probably because it's so dry). 
    We also have a water tank down the allotment and we had to add some wood so the frogs could get out. I can't remember it's exact height but it's over 2ft high and probably closer to 30", yet the frogs still get in (perhaps not easily).

    I often find frogs in quite tight gaps so if you have a couple of inches at least under the sink at the moment then they would probably like it. I guess this is where the slugs and snails like to hide out. If you want to fill it in then you can and then just plant it with some nice nature friendly plants.  
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    You mention relocating frog spawn to the pond. I would beg you not to do this as moving spawn from one area to another can encourage the spread of disease. If you have frogs in the neighbourhood they will find your pond. It is probably too late for them to breed there this year but with a bit of luck you might be blessed next year. Tadpoles need food so having a pristine pond is not a good idea......you need a good supply of tiny pond creatures and they seem to arrive as if by magic either on the bodies of visiting mammals, on the feet of birds, or hidden in pond weed.
  • tigerburnietigerburnie Posts: 131
    If you put spawn in a new pond what will the tadpoles eat? Far better to encourage wildlife in rather than artificially adding to an environment that might not be suitable.
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