introduction

the four features

wildflowers

grasses

the hedgerow

the all-in-one garden

the butterflies

conclusions

The Pond

No wildlife garden would be complete without a pond.  It will attract a multitude of life forms that will, quite quickly, colonise your pond; it will also provide drinking water for all the other creatures that you have attracted to your urban oasis.  Note: butterflies do not drink from open water: they suck up moisture through their proboscis.  This is where the marsh area, surrounding your pond, will provide refreshment for your visiting butterflies.  The size of the pond will be determined by the size of the area where you will be creating your wildlife-friendly butterfly conservation garden.  It will also be the most labour intensive of the environment to create.  If you are, like me, in the autumn of you lives and your heavy digging days are over, then this would be a great opportunity to get a younger generation involved.  This, apart from the conservation aspect, is the object of the project; to inspire others, especially children, to appreciate the value of wildlife and thus ensure its survival in an age of soulless materialism and selfish egotism.

Selecting the site for the pond is extremely important.  Not in any deep natural dip, under trees or in too much shade and, as it is the most disruptive of the features, perhaps it would be best to tackle this task first.  When you are taking up the turf, presumably with a turf cutter, take off the grass where you intend to create your pond and stack, grass to grass, as with the wildflower meadow.  You will acquire lots of soil, both topsoil and subsoil, that you'll need later.  Keep these apart and under cover or the rain will consolidate the soil and make it difficult to shift.  Use sticks, cut to the depth of the shelves, as a guide when digging.  You'll also need a length of wood to reach all sides of the pond to check the level.  For an unobscured view of the pond, lay paving slabs on bricks, 4 inches apart, to accommodate hibernating amphibians.  This will also give you a vantage point from where you can observe the many life forms your pond will attract.  A bog garden can be created to grow a variety of plants that need damp conditions; it will also provide some of the host plants for various insects to lay their eggs on.  When you come to line the hole for the pond, cover an area that has been dug out a few inches below the waterline for the bog garden.  Then puncture the liner with a garden fork so that a certain amount of water drains out leaving that area damp — boggy.  The far side of the pond should lead into a grassy area that in turn should lead into the hedgerow or to an unkempt part of the garden where amphibians can shelter undisturbed.  A log or rock pile near the water's edge will also provide shelter for several creatures to rest or hibernate in.

N.B.  You cannot have fish in your wildlife pond; they’ll eat the tadpoles.  Neither can you always have both frogs and newts.  If the pond is not large enough, the newts could eat the tadpoles of the frogs.  Let Nature sort this out.

There are, of course, other websites to help you construct your pond.  Just type in 'how to create a wildlife pond' and press search.

Native Aquatic Plants

Assuming that your pond is small to medium in size; the recommended minimum being 6' x 6', the following data are taken from much larger lists.  Again, the choice is yours but these will be in flower for most of the year.

As you can see these last five also grow in the flower meadow that should be an extension of the marsh area.  And, as with the cultivated area, grow these plants in groups of 3-5-7 for greater effect.

Diagram of the Pond

The following diagram will give you an idea as to how it could look in profile.  The width here is optional as the size of your pond will be determined by the available space.  But the larger the pond, the more wildlife it will attract.

Use some of the subsoil to line the bottom of the pond.  Firm the shelves so they do not crumble when the liner is put into place.  This will involve teamwork when the liner needs to be stretched over the excavated space.  You will probably have to fill the pond with tap water that will take a couple of days to clear.  The wildlife you want to attract to your pond will arrive soon after completion.  Photograph and record these arrivals as birds and butterflies drink in the shallows surrounding the pond.  Airborne insects such as dragonflies may be the first to colonise your pond followed by frogs, toads and newts that will thrive in the habitat that you have created for them.

Remember, once established, your pond has to be maintained.