GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE
A pond is one of the richest habitats you can create in a garden, providing food, water and a breeding place for a huge range of species, from amphibians to aquatic invertebrates, and birds to small mammals, such as hedgehogs and bats. A pond is also one of the busiest wildlife habitats. Digging one will have an almost immediate effect. Within just two weeks, you might atract water boatmen and pond skaters, bathing birds, thirsty hedgehogs and egg- laying insects, such as dragonflies and damselflies. Amphibians will seek out the water to spawn in spring, and bats will take advantage of the insects dancing over the water’s surface in summer. In the wild, ponds, rivers and streams are being lost
and degraded by development, drainage and intensive farming, resulting in a huge loss of wildlife. So garden ponds are an increasingly vital habitat for species that may have lost their breeding grounds elsewhere. They can also act as stepping stones between larger bodies
Somewhere to hide
Make piles of old terracotta pots or loose heaps of stones near your pond to provide shelter for frogs and toads.
of water, providing a lifeline to species that are unable to travel long distances. While large ponds atract the greatest number
of species, don’t underestimate the value of a small pond. A container such as an old tin bath, Belfast sink or even a washing up bowl can provide a home for aquatic insects. Frogs may use the habitat too – just help them to reach the water by making a ‘frog ladder’ out of stones outside the container. Add more stones at the botom and plants to provide oxygen and shelter for tadpoles and other aquatic larvae. Our gardens take up more space than all of Britain’s
nature reserves put together. If we all provided some form of watery home, we could create a network of wildlife-rich water highways across the country.
For more pond tips and to add your water feature to our UK pond map,
visit
wildaboutgardens.org.uk Gently sloping sides
Make sure mammals such as hedgehogs can enter and exit the pond safely to avoid drowning. A sloping ‘beach’ is perfect and will attract birds to bathe here too.
Kate Bradbury is passionate about wildlife-friendly gardening and the author of Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything in association with The Wildlife Trusts.
Nurseries for eggs
Toads wrap their ribbon- like spawn around the submerged stems of plants such as marsh marigold. Newts fold individual eggs into the leaves of plants such as water-forget-me-not.
Sheltering stones
In the shallows and deeper areas of the pond, stones provide nooks and crannies for aquatic larvae to shelter from predators. Tadpoles also suck algae off them.
Cumbrian Wildlife | September 2019 39
ILLUSTRATION: HANNAH BAILEY, KATE BRADBURY: SARAH CUTTLE
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