Potters Bar & Barnet Local RSPB Group

A New Pond

by Sylvia Javes

In mid-March, my son decided it was about time Mum had a pond. He had a few days’ leave, and soon got to work. It was well designed, with a deep well in the middle and several levels. We bought a liner, and put in some rocks to offer shelter to any creatures that came along, and within a week or two we had the makings of a pond. I bought some oxygenating weed, and some pond snails. For weeks though, it was nothing more than a muddy puddle. An occasional dragonfly investigated in spring, but nothing much happened. I thought I saw a bit of movement, but could find nothing.
 

It was quite a rainy summer, and the water level gradually rose, but still things were very murky. Then a friend offered some more pond weed, and we tipped in two carrier bags of green stuff. Well, there must have been more than weed in the bags. Eventually the pond cleared, and suddenly the water was teeming with life. There were water-boatmen, dozens of snails, what we took to be a few late developing newt tadpoles, and some dragonfly larvae. What was most interesting was that when I took a sample of water in a white dish, there were scores of tiny creatures whizzing about - probably daphnia.

A highlight was when the first pond skaters arrived in July. Within a few days there were several skittering about, then they began to breed. Eventually there were twenty or so adults and numerous tiny pond skaters. We have had other visitors: a frog jumped in to take refuge from our resident fox, and a few days later there were two more. We have also had occasional visits from a grey wagtail, but not many other birds have taken advantage

At present (October) the water has become a little cloudy. There is some blanket weed, but still lots of snails which may help to control it. The dragonfly larvae are growing huge; the newt tadpoles have not been seen for some time, so maybe they have been eaten by them. There are far fewer pond skaters now that it is cooler. I am looking forward to next spring to see what happens. Will we have some frogspawn? And will it survive the dragonfly larvae? I shall put in more plants next spring – I already have a few native plants around the edge. It has been fun to watch things arriving and trying to identify them, and I am looking forward to next year

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