Building a Wildlife Pond Part 2: New Birds and More!

[@TheKiwiGrower]

This was so cool to watch!

[@OnlyNature]

Glad you enjoyed it! 😊

[@mitchl5220]

That pond is great! It must feel so rewarding seeing all the wildlife using it. If you want plant recommendations for smaller plants, lesser spearwort works great as a place for dragonflies to climb out of the water. It's such nice little plant and in my opinion is super underrated. I like it because it's smaller and less imposing compared to other marginal plants which tend to be far too big (grasses, irises etc)

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you so much! It definitely is, especially when you never really know if any wildlife will even want to use it, but I’m glad they are doing. Just Googled that plant, they’re really nice, I have seen them before but wouldn’t have known their name so thank you! I’ll look into getting some 😊

[@GardeningMethods2324]

Nice!!! Add willow cuttings they will be great for tadpoles and salamanders

[@juanserrato2299]

You should add fishes, temples, and crawfish in there. Just go to a river and catch some.

[@ClareHall-d1m]

Thank you so much for this wonderful video and also for part 1. You have inspired me to try this in my own but smaller garden. Look forward to watching more updates.

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it ☺️ I highly recommend giving it a go, definitely lots of fun and very rewarding! Good luck!

[@SamVis835]

Wow, unbelievable! I’m amazed by how much wildlife this pond has grown over time. It’s great seeing the green finches around. I love the magpie bathing video, that is just incredible. Great video, keep it up!

[@OnlyNature]

So glad you’re enjoying it! I used to see greenfinches all the time until their population got wiped out, really pleased to be seeing them again. I’ve always loved magpies too although they are noisy at times 😆 thank you! I will do

[@ayuujang7678]

Perfect!! I loved it so much.. Inspire me.. 💚💚💚

[@OnlyNature]

That’s great! Thank you! 😊

[@Wildberry53]

It’s cool that last episode the frogs laid frogspawn

[@OnlyNature]

Definitely! ☺️

[@heatherphillips6029]

Your wildlife pond footage is absolutely superb! The clarity and beauty of the shots are breathtaking. The narration is brilliant as well, adding insightful and engaging commentary that enhances the overall experience. You've truly captured the essence of nature in a way that's both educational and captivating. Keep up the fantastic work!"

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you for such a lovely comment! Glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@juanserrato2299]

You should add fishes and crawfish in there. Just go to a river and catch some.

[@OnlyNature]

Yeah I am thinking about adding fish, but it’s illegal to remove native crayfish from rivers here in the UK as they’re a protected species

[@robbied5898]

Quickest way to reduce the wildlife in your pond is to add fish. They eat everything.

[@derekmorgan7625]

So beautiful. Amazing what can come out of a patch of dried up lawn. Looking forward to more updates.

[@OnlyNature]

Very true! I'll keep updating in the future ☺️

[@amberdy12]

Looking forward to next episode

[@kingterra111]

loving the pond design and adding rocks and plants around the sides for the animals to use is such a great idea! also with the compost bins, u could try planting a hedge around the front of them to hide them? or build something around them to hide them?

[@OnlyNature]

Glad you found it helpful! Hiding the bins is on my to-do list and a hedge is a nice idea (if I don't decide to move them entirely). 😊

[@MarkKravchuk]

Update! Yay!

[@devdeuce93]

Thanks for the inspiration

[@mitchmitchell515]

Shows what a good pond can do.amazing to see green finches .

[@OnlyNature]

Definitely. They’re one of my favourites ☺️

[@jackstone4291]

Great video! Get a much bigger tree for a perch and it’ll look better I think. Big stones look and are great for wildlife, gravel and smaller stones too. ! Hope you’ve chucked some native oxygenates Hornwort, Spiked Milfoil on there to help oxygenate !

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you! I was thinking about a larger tree but I’m still undecided as to where I would plant it. I was thinking I need more smaller stones too, there are some in there but I could always add more. I have some Hornwort in there! It’s grown like an underwater forest this year! I’ll try to detail more things like that in future videos 😊

[@jackstone4291]

Dude you’re doing great and we love the videos. It’s all a working changing place in the garden and it’s easy for someone to say do this do that. Someone told me that big massive stones or logs or stumps actually make the space seem bigger and also more dramatic. Keep on doing what you doing and good luck with collecting or buying pebbles/gravel/stone!

[@radostingeorgiev7617]

I like this pond thing so i will be very very happy if you add some kind of fish because 1-i like fish 2-a lot of big birds like fish like flamingo,and a lot more. Just giving you a idea

[@Jordan-lu2un]

Dont think they have flamingos in the uk bud

[@OnlyNature]

Yeah I always planned to add some fish, maybe just minnows so that they don’t upset the local amphibian population, which might still attract larger birds like Herons. No flamingos in the UK though unfortunately, but that would be cool otherwise!

[@green_oasis]

Nice pond. I recently updated my in law pond and love to see wildlife visiting.

[@andrewgraves4026]

Love seeing the wildlife good job

[@OnlyNature]

Thanks, Andrew. Much appreciated 😊

[@juliusmaximusIII]

Really cool project you've got going on there! Curious to see where it's headed :) One thing that pains me a bit is the conifer hedge in the background 😅 if it's not already on the neighbor's property, you may want to consider replacing parts of it with more ecologically useful plants since those conifers don't have too much to offer (leaving a few as an option for animals to hide is of course valid)

[@OnlyNature]

Glad you enjoyed it! It pains me too, but sadly the conifers are on my neighbours property so I'm stuck with them for now 🤭

[@samuelrippe390]

Amazing video, I love magpies. I love what you did with the watercolor in the thumbnail, it looks great. One small idea is to change the arrow to a red color because it is complimentary with all the plants in the thumbnail (maybe with a white outline to match the bird. I love all the wildlife that you captured hanging out around your pond. it's really a great video, I can't wait to see more.

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you! Yeah I might try that, I was actually tempted to when making it, just testing a few different thumbnails at the minute but I’ll no doubt try it in the future. Glad you enjoyed the video! 😊

[@JeenReet]

It really was worth your effort. Great job.

[@OnlyNature]

Thanks for the support!

[@cooigaming1633]

You should try introducing the fish carrusius carussius (latin name) they are a hardy species that in the carp family that just eat water plants and they don't grow too big

[@OnlyNature]

That's a really useful suggestion, as I have been considering fish but not wanting to impact the wildlife that's already there. I'll look into these more, thanks!

[@GeorgiaJones-xw4kn]

Love it! Especially the magpie appearance 🤩 What camera do you use to capture the video when you’re not there?

[@OnlyNature]

The magpie is my favourite too. 🤩 I've updated the description and added links to the gear used, camera included. I can't add a link in the comments just yet, so hopefully that helps for now!

[@GeorgiaJones-xw4kn]

Thanks, it does!

[@Lund6765]

U r livin my dream life ❤keep it going, the realest content🎉

[@OnlyNature]

Thanks so much for the kind comment. It means a lot!

[@jennuttan1]

Hi the pond looks Good :)

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you ☺️

[@jennuttan1]

@@OnlyNature np

[@jools2323]

Love it!

[@_MikeJon_]

Awesome! Maybe putting some small fish, even a couple goldfish in there will help cycle the pond.

[@OnlyNature]

I have thought about it a lot! I’m really not sure because I don’t want to upset the balance of it being a natural pond but then maybe some native little fish would be good? I’m not sure 🤔

[@_MikeJon_]

@@OnlyNature Yeah I mean, any fish will likely get eaten by birds or something eventually. Some dark colored goldfish wouldn't be too big of a loss. Plus fish will help keep down the mosquito population and other unwanted pests when the tadpoles are gone.

[@pansepot1490]

⁠@@OnlyNature get advice from someone with experience, ask forums, reddit, Facebook groups etc. I am told fish eat all tadpoles as soon as they hatch. Unless you have a lot of underwater vegetation and shallows where they can hide. Generally the advice is not to introduce fish in wildlife pond but idk: it probably depends on the size. If your pond already works and you don’t have mosquitoes problems I wouldn’t risk upsetting the balance.

[@CasualScrub]

I don't know about in the UK but in the US I'm fairly certain that goldfish are an invasive problem. You may want to consider some other species, but I'm sure if you just do enough research beforehand you'll be able to make the right decision

[@_MikeJon_]

@@CasualScrub it's an isolated pond in his back yard lol. It's not connected to a waterway. Plus basically any fish in there will be eaten. Better a cheap goldfish than a native fish you go take out of the environment. Goldfish are an invasive problem because they were introduced into the water. You could say the same thing about a koi pond but it's ridiculous due to the same fact. It's an isolated pond. Do we see a major koi problem here in the US? No. We don't even have a goldfish problem tbh. Can they be invasive? Yes. But they don't grow to the size of something like an Asian carp. Many other fish species will eat them such as bass.

[@itsrachelfish]

Yay! So glad to see the update. This is why I subscribed 💖

[@OnlyNature]

Glad to hear it and thank you for being a subscriber! Stay tuned for more updates in the future ☺️

[@89cw]

Love this, have a subscribe from me! Reminds me a lot of Stefano Ianiro, but in the UK. Looking forward to the next update!

[@OnlyNature]

Amazing, thank you! I really appreciate that, I’m a big fan of his work too and he definitely inspired this type of video from me. There will be plenty more in the future 😊

[@matthewbromm7552]

dragonfly larvae eat everythinggg

[@MattGodzilla2000]

Heres hoping a bird with fish eggs on its feet will land soon

[@OnlyNature]

Now that would be interesting!

[@dosquats]

Awesome !!!!

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you! 😄

[@Nooneathome-1]

I really enjoyed the video, great job 👍😀

[@OnlyNature]

Glad you enjoyed it ☺️ thank you!

[@tonyhinderman]

Awesome vid!

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you!!

[@JensOdense]

I loved the video, hope you continue to keep updating us :)

[@OnlyNature]

Awesome! Thank you. I definitely will 😊

[@alef962011]

Great work, you surely deserve more likes!

[@jordanadam4693]

I've created a dead hedge around half my pond. It acts as a hide and perch for birds and dragonflys

[@OnlyNature]

Oh that’s interesting! I created a small brush pile but I should probably do more. How did you create it?

[@jordanadam4693]

@@OnlyNature I dug in some logs upright to act as support, these standing logs are habitat for the declining stag beetles. Then log piles in between with brush piles building it up high. I created gabs inside the dead hedge acting as a natural hide for hedgehogs, wood mice and a hibernaculum for amphibians and reptiles. I've had birds nest in my dead hedge this year. I've a video on my page of the pond but I'll take a better one of the dead hedge soon.

[@jordanadam4693]

I've also drilled holes in the upstanding logs and the solitary bees lay there eggs in them.

[@walkingwater893]

❤ You must be an earth sign?!

[@OnlyNature]

I’m actually Fire!

[@Kiiibong]

🔥

[@MrJones-qx5ks]

Great Video keep it up!

[@OnlyNature]

Thank you ☺️ will do!

[@lizblanchardrecinejasonrec8416]

Maybe add some mosquito fish to the pond😊

[@OnlyNature]

Great suggestion, I wasn't familiar with these fish before your comment but they sound great. Unfortunately after doing a little research, it seems that they won't survive here in the UK. Perhaps I can find something similar though 😊

[@csharpe5787]

Reinstall the perch and mask the compost bins.

[@OnlyNature]

Totally agree with masking the bins... it's on my to-do list already!

[@GardeningMethods2324]

Add some minnows or goldfish

[@OnlyNature]

I’m definitely thinking about getting some minnows!

[@bogglesbiggins1101]

Thanks for the interesting videos, I recently built a fish pond with waterfall for oxygenating/ creating movement. In a wildlife pond like this, how do you find mosquitos? When I see still water like this I picture mosquito breeding ground, which I'd hate around my house and garden, do you have this problem? In my pond, even if they managed to lay eggs on slow moving areas, my fish eat them as a tasty treat. What eats them when there's no fish present? Thanks

[@novampires223]

Dragonfly large eat skeeters.

[@OnlyNature]

Great question! I don’t have any problems with them actually, in a large pond like this there are plenty of predators! Dragonfly larvae and other predators do a great job hunting them in the pond, despite not having any fish. I also have bats in my area which can help with eating the mosquitoes themselves 😊

[@abishek2698]

Add some fishes in the pond

[@OnlyNature]

I think I might!

[@rjhgn88]

Comment for the algo!

[@dimpleps8763]

Bro add fish

[@OnlyNature]

I’m considering it! 😄

[@Lund6765]

And ya, why don't you try putting some fish in the pond 😅just a foolish suggestion from me 😅

[@OnlyNature]

I have definitely considered it. Some fish eat the wildlife that call my pond a home now, so I'm carefully weighing up my options to ensure it's the best decision for what's already there too! 😊

[@RussTillling]

Great video! Hopefully you’ll get some newts🤞. Don’t add fish, they’ll eat everything else,or get eaten themselves, I believe. Some dead wood half in and half out of the water, would be beneficial as well imho. The larger and rougher the better, meaning not sawn but broken. Not easy but should crest more habitat diversity, and could provide the perch you are looking for.

[@udithweerasinghe6402]

add some fish species

[@OnlyNature]

I just might!