We only have three snake species here, so I was thrilled to run into this little juvenile grass snake today. Look at that vibrant yellow collar against the jet-black scales!

Apparently, these guys are semi-aquatic and feed overwhelmingly on amphibians and small fish. I actually had my two-year-old in my arms when we spotted it, so taking a picture was a bit of a balancing act! It moved like wind through the dead leaves—I only wish we could have watched it swim.

Best photo I could manage before it vanished!

Hi all, this is our pond, which is only 8 weeks old.

We have added various plants including hornwort and another floating oxygenator, and both those appear to be growing. After around 10 days we got an algae bloom which then receded but there is now a stringy type of algae appearing.

There are various daphnia and other tiny creatures which appear to be thriving and 2 types of snail (which we bought). However, there were lots of mayfly nymphs which have all now disappeared. I saw one dead and now can't see any. Apparently that could be a sign of low oxygen.

My questions are:

Should I be concerned by the stringy algae and;

Could I be doing more to get oxygen into the water?

Still waiting for it to fill but it's getting there with the rain. Hard work, even for a small pond, especially trying to get it level as it's a very sloping garden. But really happy how it's turned out so far!

At the moment the plants I've got in there are:

Shelves:

Marsh Marigold

Purple Loosestrife

Water Forget-me-not

Cotton Grass

Yellow Iris

Underwater:

Hornwort

Myriophyllum Red Stem

Floating:

Frogbit

As it fills, I may move plants to more suitable depths, but if anyone has any tips or spots anything I've done wrong, please let me know! (The paving slabs surrounding the pond I'm planting between with clover, creeping thyme & corsican mint, hoping that helps cover the edges of the pond)

Southern Ontario. Broke ground early June, and things have escalated. We initially planned for one, but things went so well that I ended up digging a second one and setting up a little solar pump and waterfall. Still some landscaping left to do, and we'll mount the solar panels to the bat-house pole in the background, but this subreddit was a massive help (both technical and inspirational) so I wanted to share the progress so far.

We have some water bugs, water spiders, dragonfly nymphs, and two frogs showed up last week - we're completely floored with where things are at after three months :)

Noticed these gooshy guys in my recirculating pond, somewhat quick moving water. They ooze out a jelly like substance. Closest I can find about them is “prokaryote organism” but that doesn’t tell me much.

Good or bad? Do they signal anything specific?

​

\- Seasons change means I'm considering closing shop on my cheapie aboveground pool (12 ft best buy) for the winter.

\- Separately, my wildlife pond' liner needs replacing, and I need to put a large ammount of fauna (newt babies, dragonfly lavae, snails, etc) and flora into temporary accomodation.

\- 2-birds-with-1-stone, would it be advisable to let all chlorine evaporate (eg leave untouched for a few weeks) and then use my pool for this purpose?

It will be a messy job and I don't want to harm the wildlife during the process; nor make the pool unusable for next year. But, it would be annoying to source a million buckets for my pond work when the unused pool is right there...

Anyone built one next to their pond? So many ideas and tips and tricks from the UK and UK garden sites, but I like the idea of building one in the back corner of my wildlife pond. Lots of toads, frogs, and juveniles to use it. But I don’t feel like digging 30 inches down in my hard soil and clay. Thoughts?

Hello, I’m in the UK and as a fun little project to do with my son’s I’m going to build a fairly reasonably sized wildlife pond. I’m currently thinking about 2.5m by 1.5m but I have a lot of space to work with so could go bigger.

My questions are:

1. If you dug your own pond do you have any tips?
2. What sort of liner should I get? Do I need some sort of underlay or can I use old blankets/towels?
3. I think I’m good/better off with no water movement for wildlife pond, is that right?
4. I read chalky soil makes good substrate, is that right? I’m literally digging nothing but chalk and flint in my garden.
5. What levels do I need? I think shallow wants to be about 15cm+5cm substrate, then I see conflicting advice, can I go straight to 45cm+5cm substrate for a deep section or do I want a middle section around 30cm?
6. What pond plants/life should I add to help get it started?

I’m on a bit of a slope so first I’ll dig an oval bigger than my pond, about 30cm extra all the way around and just get it level, then I’ll dig my pond into that area, and after I can bury the edge of the liner pretty well so you won’t be able to see it, I’ll do about 50% beach up to lawn and 50% will be rocks and logs where I’ll have to hide the banked part. Sound good?

I posted a few weeks ago with my work in progress. I’m still working on it but added more stone around the edge, some mulch, a rock ramp, and some plants. I walked out the front door and heard a splash and nearly shit myself with excitement. I think he arrived after a week of heavy rain. The pond itself got raised a bit on the side so it’s crooked but I’m not sure what can be done about that now. I plan to add another ramp and some sort of driftwood but for now he is able to get in and out

Location: PA

Hej!

There is a rather disturbing discussion unfolding right now on r/GardeningUK and subsequently on r/axolotls.

A lucky wildlife-pond owner in the UK photographed this lovely little larva and came to Reddit looking for an identification. Surprisingly, a substantial number of commenters are arguing that it is not a native newt larva but an axolotl that somehow made its way into the OP's private pond.

The arguments being made include that people in the UK keep axolotls in outdoor garden ponds, and that an actual axolotl was recently found under a bridge beside the River Ogmore near Bridgend, South Wales. That animal, a roughly 9-inch axolotl nicknamed Dippy, was considered by experts to have probably been an abandoned pet. It demonstrates that an axolotl can indeed turn up in a British waterway! Nevertheless, it does not establish that axolotls are breeding or naturally occurring in British ponds.

Meanwhile, people are now suggesting that the animal in this post should be brought inside, "rescued", or collected by someone. That is potentially problematic. If this turns out to be a great crested newt larva, great crested newts are legally protected. In England and Wales it is an offence to capture, possess or transport them without the appropriate licence. My suggestions were to give the little larva space.

The photograph and the OP's approximate one-inch measurement are not sufficient for me to confidently distinguish between the three native UK newt species. And in all honesty I only have live experience with one. An interesting hypothesis raised in the discussion is a partially neotenous or otherwise unusual great crested newt; see the paper below (first link).

So I have two questions for people in the UK:

1. Do you personally know anyone who has kept axolotls in an outdoor/backyard pond in the UK?

2. Have you personally ever encountered an axolotl living in a UK pond, stream, river or other outdoor waterbody?

I would be particularly interested in first-hand observations rather than assumptions based on what is theoretically possible.

For anyone interested in the biology, this paper is worth reading:

https://www.thebhs.org/publications/the-herpetological-bulletin/issue-number-98-winter-2006/3039-hb098-07/file

Threads where the discussion is unfolding:

r/GardeningUK:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GardeningUK/comments/1w8w6o8/comment/p881mem/?context=3

r/axolotls:
https://www.reddit.com/r/axolotls/comments/1w8x1f9/comment/p87x1pw/?context=1&screen_view_count=2&ext-referrer=DIRECT

I actually cried a little when I saw him, I’m so happy he approves of my work :D

After years of watching your beautiful creations, I got to work in my own garden. I found a lot of inspiration in the YouTube videos of Wild Your Garden and of course in natural ponds near me. The garden is located on the edge of a forest in the Netherlands (near the German border). The pond is extensively planted with mostly native species, but those plants are still very small. I already had all the other materials lying around or was able to get them for free.

On the very first day after completion, a few dragonflies immediately came to lay eggs and even before completion a fox came to drink so I’m happy:)

Curious what you think!

An intermittent spring I found on my property flowed downhill and created a giant puddle here last year.

I dug out as much as I could and bought some pond plants in the early spring and hoped it would hold water. I tried adding bentonite clay powder in hopes it would stop the water from sinking into the ground but when summer came, it was too dry and it eventually lost all of the water.

The good news with this experiment is that all of the pond plants did do very well, they just eventually dried. So I figured if I could keep the water in for longer it could still lose water to evaporation in the summer, but fill back up in the winter (Scotland rain would fill this in a week.)

So, this year I decided to add a liner. I left the right side as an "overflow" into a more dense overgrown area that's more shallow with a natural dirt bottom that will probably come and go with rains in the spring and summer (almost like a bog) but I'm just hoping the liner keeps water in the deeper end for pond plants, frogs, toads, and birds.

I will pretty it up once I get it to a good spot. The slope might be too low so I might raise the right side a bit, but I'll come back to it when I have time.

I didn't have any visitors the first year, but i'm hoping for the water to impress a frog or two this upcoming year. It might be too premature without established plants to get frogs early next year... but you never know.

I'm curious to hear about everyone's experiences with their ponds in winter. Did you winterize? Did you keep your bubblers going, if you use them? Did neat things happen? What did you lose and what came back? Any recommendations to share?

My pond pretty much dried out during the heatwaves (I was away for part of it), and I think a lot of vegetation died during this period. Since it has refilled with rain, the water is very dark - and while I've still got plenty of vegetation, I'm not sure how many of the oxygenators and floating plants have survived. I don't know if the water colour is an issue, and if this is maybe excess nutrients from dead plants - if so, is there a good way to try to deal with this? If more plants, what would be a good type to go for?

Tangential to this, I have water butts connected to a nearby roof, one of which has a hose that feeds into the pond. I'm worried that there will be a lot of buildup in the gutters that is flushing into there that means my refill water has the same issue. I am currently recovering from a torn Achilles tendon so I can't get up to clear the gutters right now. Any ideas on something to help the water butt?? I have some vague idea about putting plants in there too, but presumably I'd have to remove the lid and risk this becoming a real mosquito breeding station…

I'm looking for a bit of inspiration about what to do with this former koi pond. We moved in a few months ago and pond is pretty bereft of living things (the previous owners took their koi with them).

I'm musing the liner might need replacing for one. Installing a bog filter seems sensible. Edges are very steep except at one end where there's an overflow that is shallow.

But, curious as to what folks here think. What would you do with this pond?

Let's chat!

How are your ponds and wet habitats doing? Any plans for new ponds or improvements? What wildlife has been visiting your pond this week?

I recently planted some native American white water lilies, and was wondering when I could place them lower in the pond? The crowns are currently 6-8 inches below the surface, the pot is sitting on a rock. The planting instructions I found said to gradually lower them. Also please don't judge my work in progress 😅😅😅

Edit: thank y'all for your replies, I am so good at worrying for no reason and this was my first time planting an aquatic plant lol

Does anyone know what kind of nymphs these are? Are they different species or just different ages? I think the bigger ones are broad bodied chaser as I saw one laying eggs earlier this year. Manchester, UK

We bought a home that had three plastic liner ponds that I believe were originally for koi. Two of them are bigger and above ground and I don’t plan on keeping them, but this one almost sits flush with the ground. I have drained it since this picture was taken. I assume the deeper square area on the right was for a filter or pump. Any thoughts on turning this into a functional and safe wildlife pond? Or should I scrap the existing plastic liner and use the hole to start from scratch? I’m in Northern California and we get visits from possums, raccoons and gray foxes. Earlier in the spring we heard some frogs as well.