Hi everyone -

I'm a newbie so please be gentle! I built my small wildlife pond last summer. It is only about 4ft x 3ft and is about 2ft at the deepest point. It's doing really well and wildlife is flourishing.... except for the problem!

I have a Hozelock Cascade low voltage pump, situated out of the pond, which takes water to a waterfall. The main reason I chose this pump is that it did not have to be in the pond itself - the pond is small enough without having a pump taking up half the floor space!

I originally wedged the pump intake pipe under a large stone, and covered the end of the pipe with a piece of netting to prevent any wildlife from gettng sucked in. This was OK - I needed to scrape the leaves and debris off the netting every day but not too onerous... until I found a lovely little newt, stuck to the netting, waving his legs, unable to drag himself off. After that, I re-sited the intake under a large planting basket (cut a hole for the pipe) and weighed in down with a large stone. That worked really well - didn't get clogged up at all and no loss of flow on the waterfall for weeks.

Yesterday, to my considerable distress, I discovered that the newt had found his way into the planting basket and had been sucked up the pipe. I will not describe the situation any further, suffice to say that I was in tears for most of the day, as I had become very fond of him. I even forgave him for eating my tadpoles. Cannot bring myself to tell the kids what has happened.

Pump is now switched off. I would be grateful for any ideas on how I get set up my pond and pump in a way which is safe for the wildlife which I am trying to attract. I see no point in attracting wildlife if my setup is going to kill it.

Apologies for length of post, but thought it best to explain the situation fully. Many thanks in advance for any constructive advice!