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Barrel pond
macca3
Posts: 16
Hi
I wonder if anyone is able to offer some advice re an oak half barrel wildlife pond. It's a new pond this year, haven't seen much in the way of wildlife yet, we are in a new build in urban area so it may take time but the plants are thriving.
The metal bands on the barrel have a little bit of rust on them and when it's rained this have caused some staining on the slabs below. Would painting the bands with something like Hammerite help stop the rust?
Thanks for reading
0
Posts
Well done for getting a pond into your garden macca
I expect you could paint them - I don't think many people bother, but I can understand you wanting to potect your paving.
With that type of pond feature, you need to have suitable access for it to be used. Some rocks or logs built up at the edges and a few inside the pond will assist animals and other creatures in getting in and out. It takes a little time initially though.n SOme planting bearby to give animals cover is also beneficial.
Perhaps, if you haven't already done so, you can have a birdbath nearby and some feeders. That will get birds visiting too. They would find it difficult to access the water in your barrel
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
to echo what Fairy says. If it's on slabs. I too feel access/ exit issues might be the problem. Ideally , if you could, sink it into the ground and have a pile of housebricks on one side so anything which gets in, can get out, or, as Fairy says, build up to the rim, just don't forget things need to get out easily too.
Thank you Fairygirl, Hostafan 1& chrissieB for your replies,
On either side of the right up next to the barrel we have pots and plants of various heights, I do intend to place some logs nearby this month too. In the barrel itself we have created lots of levels with bricks and plants and a gently sloping exit with a slab of slate, we also wrapped some chicken wire around the submerged part of the slate to act as a ladder in case the slate gets slippy. The bird feeders will go up this week but I do need to buy some sort of bird bath.
As I mentioned this is new build house and the gardens are very small and secure, in previous homes we have always had plenty of wildlife corridors to and from neighbours gardens etc and a great variety of birds, alas it's not the case here. The only birds we have seen so far in the garden are Magpies & Starlings and some Geese from a local nature lakeside park fly over.
Apart from the rust stains looking awful on the paving I was worried that the bands might rust through and break.
Thanks again for taking the trouble to reply.
Hi Macca3, I have a half barrel pond in the garden. We have pots surrounding it and house bricks inside that create steps where plants are placed. I haven't seen anything particular going in or out but we do have lots of frogs and toads in the garden and the birds often use it in preference to the bird bath to drinks out of.
Just saw the bit about the bands rusting through. Ours has been in place about 4 years and so no signs of breaking. We just paint the whole outside with wood protection. Ours is on gravel so I can't really comment about staining.
Thanks Yviestevie,
We did have a Magpie jump in ours for a bath a couple of times, I'm thinking it may take a while for frogs and toads to start making their way here. There is not a great deal of established planting on the estate just yet but it will improve.
I wish there was somewhere else to place ours but the paving is the best option, however it may be worth replacing some of the slabs with gravel, so thanks for that idea!
The wood protection that you use is it water based?
Many thanks
Think so Macca, it's the same that we use for the fence.
Thanks Yviestevie