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Pond problem.
Eynsham Red
Posts: 55
My small plastic pond (approx 270 ltrs) has become quite smelly, dark and there is a fair bit of sludge on the pond weed. We had masses of frogspawn earlier in the year but now I can see no evidence of tadpoles at all.
The pond has been fine since we created it for wildlife around ten years or more ago, and I’m not really sure what has gone wrong since last autumn to now. I did remove an excess of pond weed last year but left (what I consider) enough weed to maintain a balance.
I have considered draining and starting again but am concerned for the frogs and newts that might still be in there if I do. (We have seen frogs every recently)
I have considered draining and starting again but am concerned for the frogs and newts that might still be in there if I do. (We have seen frogs every recently)
Does anyone have any idea what to do to rectify?
Thank you.
Thank you.
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I'm not sure what size 270 litres would be though - what sort of dimensions is it - depth especially? Very shallow ponds will get sludged up more quickly than ones which have deeper areas.
If you had frogspawn it would be a bit early to expect tadpoles, but even if you had some, they often get predated by birds and other wildlife, which is why they need so much spawn - survival of the fittest. Very few make it to adulthood. Newts will certainly eat them.
When you said 'pond weed' what do you mean by that? Do you mean oxygenators or something else?
What else is in the pond - fish? plants?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The plants are oxygenators and a small lily.
There are no fish, only frogs and newts. Normally by this time of year down here we see tadpoles, but there is no sign of any frogspawn at all now. We have had some torrential rain in past weeks and I did wonder whether some of the frogspawn might have been smashed. I don’t know whether that is possible 🤷♂️
The pond is not ideally situated as it is close to shrubs/trees on two sides so leaves are a problem but I’ve not done anything different to normal which is to scoop out what I can with a net, especially during the autumn.
I’d be grateful for your thoughts/suggestions.
(My apologies that the photo is upside down. I rotated it in edit but it’s made no difference!)
https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/all-you-need-to-know-about-frog-spawn#:~:text=Newts%20eat%20Frog%20spawn%20and%20tadpoles%2C%20so%20a,They%20can%20co-exist%20if%20numbers%20are%20more%20balanced.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
There's no magic pill unfortunately, if the pond is in a shady site - they'll naturally end up like that.
Rain wouldn't affect tadpoles -heavy or otherwise. They've been predated by wildlife, or your newts as Dove and I have said.
I think there's sludge buster treatments though, but I've never used them. I've always just netted ponds in autumn if they're in the firing line of large trees. The one I had round the corner had a site like that, even though it was also pretty sunny - sun and wind from the same direction though.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Is now a good time to do this or would it be better left until later in the year?
Wildlife tally found still in the pond when drained: three newts and two frogs. We’ve seen many more frogs but were never really sure of how many newts, so I guess that it’s fair to assume that there are some more of both but they were out doing their day jobs!
Thank you.
I still can’t get the photo the right way up!