How to create a pond in your garden for wildlife | WWT

Creating a pond is one of the most important things you can do for wildlife in your garden. It is vital habitat for wetland wildlife like frogs and dragonflies. It’s also great for many species of garden plant, insect, bird and mammal.
In this video, we'll show you how to:
- Choose a good pond site and size, whatever space you're working with
- Dig the hole for the pond and shape it
- Choose pond liner and line the hole
- Fill your pond (tip - use rainwater!)
- Choose native pond plants for different parts of the pond, so you don't have to add a pump
- Manage and maintain your pond
For full instructions and more gardening for wildlife ideas, visit WWT's website www.wwt.org.uk...

[@fraserdonachie5792]

.... excellent presentation - this dude should be on TV ... thanks

[@ScreamingTc]

I ended up re-purposing an old plastic sand put intended for children. I've now got about dozen toads of various ages and maturity using it as their soaking spot, and a couple of frogs making regular visits.

[@blueskies666]

That’s actually an excellent idea as the preformed ponds are very expensive!

[@martynskoipondandgarden4581]

That's a nice little wildlife pond build my friend all the best Martyn 👍

[@BirdBath1]

martyns koi pond and garden, look at bird bath

[@diyar_ali_arif]

Thanks you have convinced me to make a pond.

[@paultsworld]

I have the water plantain in my wildlife pond, also water soldiers are ideal for damselflies to crawl up to emerge. Dragonflies emerge most years - usually using the flag irises. 3 species of newt have arrived by themselves.

[@dorianleakey]

3? thats great.

[@BirdBath1]

Look at bird bath 🐇🦊

[@adevonnaturegarden]

Looking forward to having a pond in our garden. Miss the one we had in our previous house.

[@blendi3825]

Beautiful. Now that my children are growing I am going to build one the same as you just did. Thank you for the instructive video.

[@BirdBath1]

Blendi, look at bird bath

[@X_explorer]

Cool vid!

[@11Djamila]

I’m curious about heavy rainfall...where and how will the water ease out ? ..thank you for you very clear voice and presentation, you’re sounding like a fine BBC wildlife presenter ;)

[@paultsworld]

I actually take water out - particularly in Winter so it doesn't overflow. I simply bucket it out. In Summer when the plants are taking out more than rainfall puts in, I fill from a water butt I have close by.

[@dorianleakey]

my mum had a pond like this and it never caused a marsh around it and my own pond never has issues and its a raised pond, so it should be spilling over the top in a messy way.

[@Jacksonknox834]

Very well presented,Thank you.

[@BirdBath1]

Kenny Roxburgh, look at bird bath

[@MikeBuckland1954]

All good. I would add: Dig the pond to at least 2ft 6 in deep for amphibians, avoid tap water, and use oxygenating plants with barley water (extract) in preference to pumps.

[@SereneSoakingSounds]

💖🕊️🌸Great video thank you 💐God bless everyone who sees this 🌹

[@JuergenZeidler]

Yes, it's Perfect👏👏👏👏👍👍✌️✌️✌️🥰

[@dorianleakey]

If you want your pond to look natural, thats good, but for space reasons we couldnt worry about that, our pond does not look naturalistic, on 3 sides its a raised pond build of bricks but attracted 5 frogs to spawn in it and its got waterboatmen, whirlygigs a, pond skaters, we introduced minnows and they seem fine.

[@Nikola95inYT]

Thank you. I've created a paradise for mosquitoеs in my backyard. I hope my neighbours won't know this.

[@jonahmoormeister635]

The pond will attract frogs who will eat the misquitoes

[@yamiah03]

Exactly what I expected.

[@theworthysoul]

On the upside, dragonflies love eating them

[@ronanoboyle8432]

Many aquatic animals and insects eat mosquitos and their larva - so good job!

[@mercedesangelesxo]

Thankyou, I'm going to make one!

[@BirdBath1]

Mercedes Angeles'xo, look at bird bath

[@mercedesangelesxo]

@@BirdBath1 I'll have a look now haha x

[@BirdBath1]

@@mercedesangelesxo 🌻

[@hookbeak3516]

I've got the bug to create a pond so more may follow my lead. Your video had plenty of handy hints. Redirecting the gutter for top-up makes sense. Thing is other instructional videos have mentioned the importance of using a spirit level, so it doesn't overflow out one side, there was no mention of this from WWT.

[@BirdBath1]

Hook Beak, look at bird bath

[@BirdBath1]

❤💙

[@theworthysoul]

Everyone complaining about mosquitoes, please get a grip! Many animals prey on mosquitoes, and UK mosquitoes have no diseases and are harmless other than an annoying bite from the females. If anything they will be great food for dragonflies and frogs, and their larvae may help algae problems a bit.

[@dorianleakey]

Also, aquatic compost, heard a good argument its better to use clay from a natural source.

[@someonesomewhere8888]

Nice video and helpful also. I need clarification for 2 things: a) Does filtered tap water will do for pond water instead of rain water? b) I've seen quite many wasps in the summer wherever there is water. Will my garden pond have the same issue in the summer?

[@BirdBath1]

Vasileios Morossidis, look at bird bath

[@eminemzie90]

You can use tap water but make sure to dechlorinate the water you can buy tap water dechlorinator in most pet shops\ online or let the water sit for 24-hours the chlorine will evaporate naturally, wasps probably only come to the water to have a drink I wouldn't worry about them being there all the time it's unlikely

[@someonesomewhere8888]

@@eminemzie90 Thank you!

[@valeriehitier9026]

C super pour l Été .. un coin d ombre et de fraîcheur mais, avez vous pensé aux larves de moustiques… et à toutes les maladies que les moustiques propagent désormais …

[@dingchat555]

Might this become a mosquito magnet? Does other wildlife handle an overload of mosquitoes, or do you just have to deal with them?

[@cristianmorales105]

Yams what i did was add a couple mosquito fish (guppies) and ate all the mosquito larva

[@dingchat555]

@@cristianmorales105 Did the mosquitofish do well without any proper aeration?

[@floatingpeaks4584]

This guy lives in the UK we don't have mosquitos.

[@morkec622]

Mosquitoes will breed anywhere that stays wet after rain for at least a week, including landfills. A pond won't affect their population significantly, but it will greatly help the creatures that eat them

[@ScreamingTc]

Once the pond's natural ecology has kicked in mosquitoes really aren't an issue. Just get some native oxygenating plants into the water and they'll make it suitable for smaller predators to move in and deal with the larvae.

[@craigsrck4382]

What about mosuitoes will they come

[@frankiepitt9135]

Yes

[@dorianleakey]

They are a vaulable source of food to the wildlife you are trying to attract.

[@radharcanna]

I have a good site for a pond but it floods in winter, with no easy way of draining it. I was thinking of building a large soakaway/French drain under it. Do you think this might solve the problem?

[@wwtorguk]

Hi there, it sounds like the perfect place for a pond - it's normal for water levels to go up and down with seasonal rainfall. So long as your build plan can account for this, and the floodwater won't affect homes or gardens, we say go for it!

[@radharcanna]

@@wwtorguk Thank you. I’ve seen it mentioned elsewhere that water underneath the pond could cause the liner to float when the level rises. That would be my biggest worry. However, if it’s weighed down to begin with, it might not move.

[@kiranmahmood.580]

How do you clean out this pond water

[@sakuradeva555]

I loved the video just wondering how do you deal with mosquitos?

[@dorianleakey]

If you attract all the things he is talking about they eat the larvae.

[@theworthysoul]

Other animals eat them

[@RapperHolik]

Can I use borehole water?

[@dorianleakey]

I suppose it would depend on the borehole, logically it would be better than tap water, but if the water is coming from really alkaline rocks or certain minerals it could be an issue, i dont really know i am just applying common sense.

[@zxc-is1ln]

Feels like Nat Geo

[@BirdBath1]

zxc123, look at bird bath

[@chandanprakash74]

wow!.....You have grown opium in your garden ....is it legal there to grow?

[@Chris-gr7ll]

Not sure where he is but growing poppies is legal in the US, manufacturing drugs(Opium) is what's illegal.

[@rain-bender4712]

DOES ANYONE KNOW? I have a young wildlife pond (about four months old). I've noticed some small chimney shaped structures made out of mud (I think). What creature is making these? Thanks.

[@willsalter]

probably crayfish

[@barrycarlisle4511]

Crayfish (crawdads) are what is making those chimneys.

[@dmnos6824]

2:04 Opium plants?

[@Chris-gr7ll]

Not sure where he is at but in theUS poppy plants are legal for many purposes. Manufacturing drugs is not

[@dmnos6824]

@@Chris-gr7llHe is in the UK.

[@queentina47able]

I want to make one on these ponds but my greatest concern is whe it rains and it floods.

[@Luckingsworth]

You calculate the rainfall in the area and keep the fill of the pond below that level (so when it floods it only gets full) and then create an overflow area dedicated fo accepting the excess.

[@dorianleakey]

it wont be any worse than than the effect of heavy rainfall in general, if you hae 2 inches 0f rainfall on your whole garden then the 2 inches on the pond runs off, its not a lot more than is in the ground around the pond already. if you are on a slope and don't have any puddling areas the problem will fix itself.

[@nox6948]

What if you buy insects like dragonflies and release them next to your pond?

[@wwtorguk]

Hello, we wouldn't recommend releasing new species into an ecosystem. Dragonflies are very good at finding new water sources - build it and they will (hopefully) come!

[@oldbloke135]

Using a downpipe to fill a water butt is OK but using it to directly fill a pond is just asking for trouble. We have drains in the UK for good reasons! The "goodness" of rainwater is over-exaggerated. Depending on where you live, you could find the water coming out of your tap has a better pH value than the stuff falling out of the sky. If you top up using a spray head on your hose the tiny amount of chlorine that remains dissolved will be way outweighed by the oxygen you add.

[@boobo]

Ah neighbors will love the mosquitoes.

[@barrycarlisle4511]

That pond liner exposed to the sun won't last long.

[@watersrising8044]

Guess you don’t have mosquitos in the UK?

[@frankiepitt9135]

Yes we do.

[@itsnotme3882]

Mo-skeet-toes

[@landonbrowne6250]

is that opium growing in ur garden lol

[@dbhlandscaping-premiumdesi8408]

omg that bare liners going to last about a year 🤣

[@dorianleakey]

it will last a decade at least. But you need to drum up the business i suppose, justify filling it with pebbles shipped from god knows where and all the C02

[@nautilus2612]

@@dorianleakey no, you just need to bury the liner

[@11Djamila]

I’m curious about heavy rainfall...where and how will the water ease out ? ..thank you for you very clear voice and presentation, you’re sounding like a fine BBC wildlife presenter ;)

[@HelloHello-dy6jc]

It