Frogspawn - 28/3/2015

Frogspawn - 24/3/2015

Frogspawn - 23/3/2015

I'd only seen one frog in the pond during 

the evenings lately, and when I went out 

to check last night there was nothing.

I'd started to believe that I would have to
wait another year before I was lucky
enough to get frogspawn for the first time.

Then this morning I wake
to find some in my pond.

I can't tell you how happy I am right now.

It looks like they'd waited until
very late to leave me a surprise!

Almost Spring - 18/2/2015

Spring is almost here,

the garden snowdrops have
already flowered and I'm now starting
to see some pond plants coming to life.

Having removed the fallen leaves 

from the pond, the water is looking

clearer each day.

The big question now is whether or 

not I'll get any frog spawn this year.

I wonder if the newts

will return to the little pond too.

Lots to look forward to this year,

fingers crossed it'll be full of great things.

January Tidy Up - 25/1/2015

I haven't been near the ponds since October and I knew that today I'd be greated with a load of leaves in the water.  I wasn't wrong either, the pond water was dark, murky, smelly and festooned with fallen leaves.

Not sure much could survive in water like that.

The Stickleback I'd seen swimming last year 

certainly couldn't, I pulled out it's dead
carcus amongst the mass of stinking leaves.

The little wildlife pond looked in a right mess too:

The water had really 

stagnated in this little pond.

After a little bit of tender loving care

it soon looked clean and tidy again.

 

The water in the bigger pond

will a good few days to clear up.

At least the oxygenating plants 

can see the light again.

Autumn Tidy Up - 27/10/2014

I used to worry about clearing out the elodea crispa but having now done it a few times I know it will grow back over time.  Today I spent the morning and afternoon having a clear up in the garden.  The leaves have started to fall and most weekends will now be spent clearing them out of the ponds.

As you can see above there was

quite a lot of elodea crispa.

Most of the leaves haven't fallen from the nearby trees yet
but already there were plenty of leaves to clear.

Figgy was quite content to watch me 

working from the comfort of his white chair.

The pond looked a little less cluttered once

I'd cleared out the leaves and elodea crispa:

Having acquired a few stones I give them a

really good clean and set about adding 

them to the edge of the pond.

There had been one particular area

of the pond I wasn't quite happy with

and used the stones to make some improvements.

Time will tell if I'm happy

with the new stone layout.

So far it looks much better than it was.

I used another stone to add a ledge for birds

to use when having a drink:

The water was a little murky after the 

clean up but it will clear up in a few days.