(Philippa) - I only know because I put a trail camera out at night and catch everything coming for a drink (it's a very addictive hobby though). I knew we were about to have a rat problem last autumn as I spotted 2 playing chase and frolicking on my "beach". Sure enough - spotted babies in the spring under my massive Hawthorne hedge (couple of hundred years old and very well established). Unfortunately had to "deal" with them as neighbours were freaking and trying to sell their house.
(Fire) No - never spotted anything like that. Water boatmen and dragon flies, for sure. Do birds or frogs eat them? Just wondering as, when I first built my pond, I put in 6 water snails and they've bred like billy-o. I've got film of the Blackies using the pond as a sushi bar. The female likes pulling taddies out - bashes their heads in and then swallows them whole (the male seems to prefer snails). Although he's becoming a pest - little devil is chucking my pebbles around, looking for grubs, and it's surprising how big a one he can pick up in his beak. Nice problem to have though.
Hi, I created my half barrel wildlife pond about a month a go. I'm not using a pump but have today noticed lots of mosquito larvae. Currently don't appear to have any other pond creatures so should I try to get rid of it and if so, which is the best way?
Mosquito larvae are part of wildlife and when they're mosquitos they provide food for bats and some birds. Other wildlife will appear in your little pond and they will eat the larvae too. So I'd say just let nature take its course
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
No pond here but I do get mozzies in the water butts, even though they have lids on. Maybe I'll try adding a bit of oil. I've no problem with mozzies as part of the food chain, I'd just rather they didn't make me part of it too. The Avon stuff doesn't really work for me so it's DEET whenever I'm going to be outside for any length of time. They still get me sometimes - last week I caught one in the act of biting my wrist - I don't think the DEET withstands hand-washing.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
If you add any oil at all it will will spread and cover the entire surface of the pond and prevent CO2/O2 exchange, so would be very bad for a wildlife pond.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It's that time of year - Mosquitos like water ( as well as some human flesh ! ) so if you have water in your garden, you are likely to have M's too at some point. They are unlikely to cause danage to your pond and will provide a food source for others. Best left to let them do their "thing"
We inherited a huge pond, dug in former times as a watering hole for cattle. The owners before us had small children so fenced it off and left it. By the time we arrived it was full of bullrushes, flag iris, goat willows, young ash trees, brambles, briars and a myriad more.
We had it dug out by bulldozer in late autumn and then it filled over winter. Loads of frogs, toads, assorted insects and mozzies but, very few in the house or biting us as the swallows and house martins arrived in time to start hoovering them up. They do a good job every year so I maybe get one or two mozzie bites all summer. They're OK if I take an anti-histamine and apply a calming cream straight away.
Doesn't work for horsefly bites tho.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Mosquito larvae cling to the water under-surface using water tension, they breath air through specialised mouth pieces. If you weaken this water tension the larvae sink and drown. Adding a small amount of soap or dishwashing liquid does the trick.
That's the theory, it works on my water butt. I can't see that it wouldn't work on a wildlife pond. Just start with the lowest possible amount and watch carefully. A the levels I am thinking of it should be non-toxic.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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(Fire) No - never spotted anything like that. Water boatmen and dragon flies, for sure. Do birds or frogs eat them? Just wondering as, when I first built my pond, I put in 6 water snails and they've bred like billy-o. I've got film of the Blackies using the pond as a sushi bar. The female likes pulling taddies out - bashes their heads in and then swallows them whole (the male seems to prefer snails). Although he's becoming a pest - little devil is chucking my pebbles around, looking for grubs, and it's surprising how big a one he can pick up in his beak. Nice problem to have though.
Other wildlife will appear in your little pond and they will eat the larvae too.
So I'd say just let nature take its course
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
We had it dug out by bulldozer in late autumn and then it filled over winter. Loads of frogs, toads, assorted insects and mozzies but, very few in the house or biting us as the swallows and house martins arrived in time to start hoovering them up. They do a good job every year so I maybe get one or two mozzie bites all summer. They're OK if I take an anti-histamine and apply a calming cream straight away.
Doesn't work for horsefly bites tho.
That's the theory, it works on my water butt. I can't see that it wouldn't work on a wildlife pond. Just start with the lowest possible amount and watch carefully. A the levels I am thinking of it should be non-toxic.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."