endymion writes

"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.

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!

But they're wildlife too ;-)

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.

It's not the best time of year to find frogs in a pond. A lot of the
breeding population will have gone elsewhere, and it hasn't been hot
enough for them to want the cool of the water.

We get over 150 frogs in breeding season, but I doubt whether there's
more than 20 round the ponds now.

--
Kay