First Autumn Tidy Up - 26/9/2015

A selection of photos taken

during the first Autumn pond tidy up.

I had a tidy up of the little wildlife pond,

cutting back the Iris plants and splitting one

of the Scirpus Cernuus plants into two pots.

Wildlife Pond Project #1

after a tidy up.

One half of the Scirpus Cernuss repotted.

The other half of the Scirpus Cernuus.

My Wife planted

a couple of Black Dragons,

from another plant which had multiplied.

I divided the Scirpus cernuus

in the bigger pond too.

That's a total of three in the big pond now.

These should provide good cover

for the frogs next year.

Wildlife Pond Project #2

after a tidy up.

Wildlife Pond Project #1 and #2

Wildlife Project #1 and the Bug Hotel.

I've resisted thinning out the elodea crispa

as keeping it the pond stops the leaves that

fall in from sinking to the bottom.

This is a lesson I learnt the hard way last year.

A view of the hairgrass plant which

provided cover the tadpoles in Spring.

This is where some of the

young frogs have been hanging out,

in the long grass next to the old bike shed.

Pond Plant Care - 03/6/2015

I sought the expertise and assistance of my Wife this afternoon to help me tend to the Scirpus Cernuus plant in the main pond (wildlife pond project #2). She's the one with the greenfingers in our house and I needed her to divide this overgrown clump for me and repot the resulting smaller clumps.

I carefully removed the plant from the pond and placed it into bucket of water I'd used to wash some some small stones earlier.  These stones would be used later on top of the aquatic compost to stop it all washing away on me.

She then used a knife to cut the plant into smaller clumps and then set about repotting each clump in some plantpots.  Ideally I'd wanted to use some aquatic baskets for the plants but I could only get hold of brown plantpots.

She used some of the small stones I'd washed earlier in the bottom of the pots before adding the plants and the aquatic compost before finishing off with a layer of small stones.

Meanwhile, whilst she was doing this I was carefully sifting the water in the bucket through my net to rescue the tadpoles and other creatures that had been in the plant at the time I'd lifted it out of the pond.  In total I sifted out 7 tadpoles, 3 leeches and several pond snails.

small stones to stop the 

aquatic soil washing away

splitting the plant into smaller clumps

getting the pots ready for planting

one of the repotted smaller clumps

clumps now back in the pond

final positions

my daughter enjoying time by the pond

wildlife pond project #1

My Wife kindly trimmed back the scirpus cernuus plant in the smaller pond too and I added one of the potted clumps and some chinese cobbles.  Hopefully over time this new plant will grow like the existing plant which currently makes ideal cover for my resident frogs.

nicely trimmed

yellow flag iris in flower

late afternoon sunshine

Frogs Retreat - 16/5/2014

One of the places I regularly find 

frogs hiding is behind the scirpus cernuus plant. 

At first glance, it's not an obvious find,

but a closer inspection reveals 

a seemingly content frog.

What a great Frog Retreat!

Sometimes there is no need for a retreat,

another frog was quite happy sitting in amongst

some Hair Grass (Eleocharis acicularis):

Pond Project #2 - 22/6/2013

The recent warm weather means

the water level has dropped in the pond.

The duck weed seems to be taking over

but I'll hang on a bit before clearing it back.

The toad tadpoles are still active and

and now have started to get their limbs.

The frog tadpoles have all metamorphosed

and on Friday evening just gone we watched

several them leave the pond for the first time.

Pond Project #2 - 15/6/2013

Some photos taken in the early evening.

 

The oxygenating plants are doing really well.

 

Scirpus cernuus, Elodea cripsa and Duck weed.

View of pond from the garden.

Pond Project #1 - 04/7/2012

The toads have finally gone,
it was fun watching them develop.

Fingers crossed they come back one day.

This is how the pond looks now:

Pond Project #1 - Plants

Plants in this pond now include:

Elodea Crispa, Water Iris, Starwort, 

Scirpus Cernuus and Water Soldier.