Greetings, everyone! I hope that you are all well and have been managing to enjoy local wildlife.
Colin Carr has kindly sent in some photos of a project that should be of benefit to some of the wildlife that visits his garden pond. I'll let Colin take up the story.
"The
stuff you get up to in lockdown. Had the idea for a frog ramp so the new ones can get out of the pond.
Blackfordby's
super wood worker Stephen
Sinfield kindly
put together one for us. But
even before we could see if it worked a frog decided to take a dip
first.
The
last image (taken two days later) shows it is already a huge success with the
tadpoles which appreciate the shallow water
it provides."
My Thanks to Colin for the above.
Garden ponds are of great benefit to wildlife, and the well-known Butterfly Brothers have recently stated that, if asked to nominate the most important feature required to make a garden wildlife-friendly, thay always reply - a garden pond.
My wife has a frog phobia so our 2 metre deep koi pond got filled in about 15 years ago and we've not had a pond since, in spite of my hankering to have a wildlife pond, as it would encourage frogs.
I hope, however, that we have now found a solution. For my birthday next month, I expect a delivery of a kit to make a free-standing pond with half-metre high walls with an overhanging lip. This will, hopefully, then be frog-free in deference to Mrs P's fears, but will attract other wildlife - I'm hoping for dragons and damsels! As with Colin's pond, and as recommended by the Butterfly Brothers, this will have a ramp to enable anything falling into the pond to climb out. I'll probably report on progress in due course.
In the meantime, take great care and stay safe - and look after the wildlife out there.
Richard Pegler
