By way of an update, mozi dunks have proved fantastic. Zero mozi problems. Overnight - lots of larva to no larva. Bacteria specific to knocking out mozis. They work much like nematodes work. The bacteria are naturally around, but these dunks up the levels.
When we first got our patio pond years ago, all we had in it was shingle, which was understandably cloudy. The water cleared after about four days and around the sides, were uncountable mosquito larvae. Within days -amazingly- a beetle would swim up from the shingle, and feast on the larvae. Within a week, no more larvae. Perhaps that opens up options, although I have no idea what the beetle was or how it got there especially in such a timely fashion.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero
Thanks. I'm allergic to the bites and have a tiny pond. I have tadpoles and toads and beetles, but it didn't seem to change much. Maybe over the years, it might change.
I used to come up in terrible wheals and large fluid-filled blisters when bitten by mosquitoes ... now I've reached 'maturity-plus' they either no longer find me attractive or I no longer react to them ... either way, it's one of the perks of getting older
I really hope I grow out of it. One thing that I have found helpful is covering the bite immediately with a plaster or a bandage. Any rubbing or scratching inflames like crazy and makes the area stay scarlet on me for a month. Horsefly bites too.
Stoopid question coming up - are mozzies only common darn sarf? I've had a wildlife pond in for 2 years and never seen anything remotely like a mosquito, although just about everything else is in / on / drinking from it (cats, hedgehogs, fox and cub, rats, mice, dragon flies, frogs - apart from all the birds). I'm up in East Yorkshire though.
Have a poke around in the water and if you see little tiny wiggly things that scoot away if you prod them. I bet you have some. I get them from about March in London. Say, over 10oC day time temp. I only notice because my bites swell up so much.
When I was a kid our neighbour used to borrow a goldfish from another neighbour's pond to release into his water tanks for a few days to clear up the larvae. We just used to snigger that he was putting goldfish in his butt.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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In the meantime, here's an idea https://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/homemade-mosquito-trap/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.