Hi All

I'm currently digging a large wildlife pond (approx 30 feet by 20),
using an excavator. I've started by scraping a lot of the soil from the
middle to the sides, with the intention of getting rid of the soil
either elsewhere in the garden or into the skip. But it's occurred to
me that the growing mound around the pond is rather attractive, and if
used as part of the actual sides of the pond, would mean I wouldn't
have to dig so deep. In other words, if I dig out a foot of soil and
bank it up by a foot, then in effect I have a 2 foot pond, with the
level of the water above ground level. This would be very convenient as
I wouldn't have to get rid of so much soil.

Is there a problem with this idea? For instance, would the pressure of
the water push out the sides? Would the banking compact down in time,
leading to an overflow? Is it a bit odd to have the water level
somewhere round your knees? What could I do with the banking -
grass-seed it? Turf it? Would it make it hard to hide the liner?

As you can see, there are quite a few unknowns here. Has anyone done
this sort of thing?

Thank you very much in advance,

Will