Go wild with water: Create your own wetland pond habitat and let nature flourish

Britain has an estimated three million garden ponds, according to conservationists. Many are purely decorative or homes for ornamental fish. But a growing number exist to encourage an abundance of nature. A successful wildlife pond looks beautiful from March to November. If you build one now and plant it up, the first wild creatures could arrive in days. Within a year, your pond will be home to a wide diversity of life.

The ideal site is in part-shade or sun. The deepest point can be 60cm and, if using a liner, you’ll need a shallow ledge for margin plants.

And, of course, always make sure young children are supervised near ponds.

Having some mud at the shallow end provides a drinking point and easy access for amphibians. Lay pea shingle over the mud or directly onto the liner. Avoid using sharp or cracked grit which could puncture the liner if trodden on.

CLEAR AND HEALTHY 

Your new pond will need at least two years to balance. At first, fibrous blanketweed may develop and the water could turn as green and opaque as pea soup. But the ‘gunk phase’ passes eventually, and as the plants mature, natural diversity increases.

Plants are the key to a healthy, clear-water pond. You can apply algicide as a quick fix, but that won’t solve the long-term algae problem. Choosing the right plants will.

Ponds need three main plant types. Marginals line the water’s edge, giving beauty, shade and wildlife cover. These are varied and seasonally beautiful so it’s good to plant generously. The easiest way to grow them is in submerged plant baskets. Their roots should merge to create a stable waterside strip.

Dragonflies and other aquatic insects will climb taller marginals before hatching into adults. Oxygenators are workhorse plants which live under water. They absorb nitrogen from the water and release oxygen to keep your pond water pure and provide a healthy aquatic habitat.

Plants such as waterlilies shade and cool the water with their floating leaves. A 60 per cent to 70 per cent leaf-cover is WORLD ideal. The surrounding area is important. Any cover creates a wildlife refuge. Bog garden plants such as purple loosestrife, astilbes or wetland irises will make your pond look natural. 

CHOOSING PLANTS 

With marginal pond plants, it’s crucial to match plant size to pond size. Bur-reeds, yellow iris and hemp agrimony suit river banks. But they’re too big for little ponds. Water mint smells pleasant but creeps invasively.

For the shallows, blue water forget-me-not and vivid yellow kingcups are the best for spring. For later, there’s mauve Mimulus ringens and flowering rush, Butomus umbellatus.

Grasses such as Bowles’ Golden Sedge and bog cotton are attractive for longer, as are rushes and horsetails.

Native oxygenating plants are best. Feathery-looking hornwort, Ceratophyllum demersum, starwort Callitriche stagnalis and curled pondweed, Potamogeton crispus, are all excellent. They’re invasive but easy to control.

Among floating leaves, waterlilies are the obvious choice. But match the variety to the size of your pond. Ours is 3m by 1.5m so I chose modest-growing Nymphaea Chromatella.

For details on building and maintaining ponds, visit the Wildlife Trusts at wildlifetrusts.org