On 14/6/08 14:29, in article ,
"endymion" wrote:


"Pete C" wrote in message
...
endymion wrote:
I need some help with my garden pond. I have been very ill and its got
somewhat ( a lot - I cant see it even) overgrown.
snippy

Charlie's comments are spot on. Clearing cannot be a gentle thing. If you
still have any wild life, put them in a temp home. When pond is cleared,
they will go back quite happily. When you've got things how you want them,
maybe add a fountain to agitate and airate the water.

With much huffing and puffing and hacking and clearing I have cut back the
trees and raised the canopy. I have pulled out two tress and I have removed
the Iris that was covering over half the pond.

I now have a somewhat muddy murky looking mass of water. I have very little
wild life in there. No frogs. No tadpoles, a few newts - not many to mention
given I had a thriving colony of frogs up to two years ago and toads and
newts. The frog spawn hatched but disappeared in 24 hours of getting into
the water.

Ours disappeared last year and we're still not sure if it went to a sudden
icy night or a visiting heron which was observed on two successive mornings.

I fear the culprit for all of this may be a whole colony of dragon fly
larvae which I have found inhabiting the Iris and the pond generally. I
counted at least 30 when I pulled the Iris out. No I have not put them back!

Oh!! They're so desperate for habitat all these things. Is it too late to
persuade you to relent?

I guess though I have lost my wild life ( frogs, toads etc) now? There wont
be anything to come and spawn next spring. I used to have two resident
frogs in the pond. They seem to have gone too.

I am really heart broken.

It's more than possible your frogs are merely lurking, watching you wear
yourself out on their behalf! And others will find their way to your pond,
I'm sure. You could always ask someone for some spawn next year, too. We
put spawn from a fishpond into a wildlife pond and it all hatched and we
have dozens of little froglets in that area now. But one of the reasons I
say don't despair is that frogs will somehow always find a patch of water.
I actually found two frogs mating in the tiniest amount of water that had
dripped onto the floor from the washing machine. Nature is very persistent!

I have plans now to try and replant the area around the pond and renew it
all.

Some big leaves will shelter your frogs when they leave the pond and give
them somewhere to hide.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)