Nice pond, looks really good and close to the house. Ours is at the
opposite end of the garden in a quiet shady spot which is nice but you
cant see/year from the house. Now that I'm getting into it a bit more
I may decide to build a small water feature nearer the house.

Thanks for the advice BTW I'm still in two minds whether to drain or
not. My logic at the moment is this...

1 - The fish seem happy enough

2 - The are Frogs and newts in the Pond

3 - the Water is very clear

4 - the fish have been stressed enough for now

5 - Its hard work :-)

so...may be leave it till next year when I know a bit more about what
I'm doing

But...on the other hand it would be nice to know whats down there in
detail and a good once over at the start may be good in the long run.

I am assumeing that after a few weeks after cleaning it would go dark
and silty at the bottom anyway or am I wrong here?

thanks