The Wildlife Pond - or giant birdbath , one year on.

Lovely wildlife photos BB. Your pond is a good addition to the garden,

I well remember when you started to make your pond, BB - what a transformation and what a lot of pleasure it has given you both. - let alone your feathered (and other) friends!

Congratulations on your first year, and thanks for the lovely photos and info on wildlife - you are our experts on the site!

Thank you Hywel all this under a huge rookery - these birds get such a bad press but they dont seem to bother the other birds .

If a Jackdaw arrives amidst them the others soon create a fuss..certainly suggests to me who the other birds see the villians as . We feed the rooks all the left overs and they ll eat alongside all the little birds .. I like them and certainly have never seen them behave in a bad way to smaller birds.

Aw thanks Spritz but no expert just like many here have a great interest and feel we should all try to rub along together.Always felt ashamed that birds were programmed to fly away from us ... nothing nicer than gaining their trust have learnt a lot from your gardening blogs and many varieties new to me always something different going on thank you.

That's a super pond, BB, and I am impressed by the wild life photographs. Great.

Thanks Bulbaholic spent week - end trying to get pond pump working but no electrician .. thank God for circuit breakers at least should trip before my series of wires blow out !

Lovely, lovely set of photos, BB.

:-) :-)

I didn,t realise your pond area is as new as that Bb,it looks so well established and with all the visitors you have it proves you got it right,everything looks so natural and it must be great to sit and just relax out there............

Thanks Wagger . Oh Spritz managed to find some unusual plants myself recenty - Melaleuca squamea tea tree oil plant and Actaea matsumurae aka Cimicifuga and at long last a white Escallonia ... so do pay attention to your blogs when trying to locate the less widely known plants.

Well hope it might give some encouragement to others Lincslass to show just how quickly wildlife moves in.
The ducks were actually sat on the pond liner waiting for me to fill it last year !

That's funny, BB - my list for tomorrow says 'Actaea' on it! I have one - it needs company. ;-)

White Escallonias sound lovely!

Well if you d like some Spritz just keep the compliments flowing they are only £2.50 ea here .lol Mind you delivery charge about £100 !

Awww thats really beauty Bonkers!!!
Lovely pond and really wild life!
The photos of course are gorgeous... nothing new about this huh???
:o)

I ll take that as a huge compliment having just seen and read your latest blog Aleyna - now thats breathtaking !

Being a pond lover I was most impressed with you wonderful pictures and all the wildlife it brings into your garden, I shall continue with my more modest pond and hope for better things to come.....well done.

I mean the compliments Bonkers, you're a great photographer and provide a really good set of pictures from your land, gardens and wild life.

Oh you must Dd - its all relative my pond is modest to some who have space for what I would call a lake !

Even a bowl of water will attract wildlife .Sid used a water cistern and got a great deal of wildlife using it .. sure you will be rewarded .

Must give Jane a lot of the credit Aleyna as she has a way with animals - seen really scary dogs that I would not approach and warn her not to approach mellow in front of her .

Your garden must be quite a beautiful sight, BB! I loved all the photos, but especially the robin (the one with the orange chest) and the pheasant.

Fantastic photos BB. Your pond is beautiful and so natural and healthy looking. It certainly makes me want to add a water feature to my garden. But, that will have to wait for a while. :o)

Thanks Raquel - we Brits particularly soft on our robins as they seem to follow us round the garden when digging.

The poor pheasant is bred as a game bird and you would not believe how much the well - heeled pay to spend a day shooting them , so always welcome here ! Perhaps the economic downturn will see fewer take to this ...

Given the new job ( congrats again ) Gilli - can understand your other priorities perhaps you will get Staff discount if your garden centre sells aquatic stuff ?

Your pond has come on great.......you have such a lot of wildlife around it.......lovely photos..........

Breathtkingly beautiful.

Thanks Holly and Joanii pretty well used to us now can sit on the bench they all return to feeding and bathing while we watch - just got the pump running and straight away the birds walk up the cascade for a soaking.

All that work paid off, Bonkersbon - well done. How on earth do you get anything else accomplished in the day? I'd be out here looking at the wildlife all day long. Loved the water hawthorn - that's a new one to me. Yes, like Gilli, I am also tempted to start a project like this.

Poor pheasants! I could never shoot anything, don't understand how people can do that. I didn't know that about the robins and the Brits...=) they're pretty birds but have never seen one here in Houston. Only on GoY!

AMAZING!!!
With an area like this you'll never need to go on vacation.
Great pics of it all too.

Brill photos of your wildlife pond and the wildlife aswell.

Stunning photographs, BB and what a terrific pond. I hadn't realised it was so new. Always had a pond in my previous gardens but not here (so far). I keep meaning to incorporate a shallow watering hole for the tortoises so perhaps that will be my project this year.

Thanks Elke,Newfie,Clarice.....
Great idea Gee.....can just imagine your tortoises bathing in the shallows !

`Briiliant blog BB~love the pics of all the birds~you will be pleased to learn that loads of shoots have closed down particularly in the London area where the city types used to shoot,and lots of beaters etc are out of work which is the downside plus they will not be rearing so many birds as they will not be required!!@*!!The well heeled landed gentry will continue to invite their guests and blow the poor birds out of the skies of course!

Now that is good news Arlene ! The birds have enough to contend with because of disappearing habitat without wanton shooting .....if only people could leave well alone......

A pond area to be proud of and wildlife photos to die for, the close up of the robin is fantastic
Certainly in my top ten all time blogs.
Thanks for publishing it.

Thank you Bonkers. A wonderful blog and fantastic photographs.

Thankyou so much Olblueeyes...was amazed at how quickly everything moved in !
Thanks Toto...hope all going well with your nesting boxes !

The blue tits seem to be doing well but nothing has occupied the other boxes.

Fingers crossed...its early days yet.Looking forward to your photos of the baby bluetits ! : )

Congratulations on being a part of GOY for just over 12 months ... it wouldnt be the same without you for sure. Your pond is perfect and looks so natural and established in such a short time and obviously the wildlife flocks to it. Love the close up of the robin, just gorgeous.

Thanks so much Dawn..still amazed at how much wildlife has flocked here...still waitig for that elusive kingfisher though ! Maybe you will be the one to give us that !

once again a beautiful blog with fantastic photos. Thanks Bonkersbon.

Thanks Seaburngirl..not forgotten visit /trip but innundated with work suddenly and not much time to visit.Will be in touch.x

Hi BB, bit concerned because we've not seen the kingfisher since we had the snow :-( If he returns, I've decided I'm sitting on the bench until I get a photo - come rain or shine - well, we'll see anyway, ha, ha.

Never seen one in the winter so dont know what they get up to then ..wonder if they create a food store to tide them over ?

That metallic blue flash makes them our most spectacular bird in my opinion - you are so lucky and as our pond has no fish we re not very likely to see one .

What a wonderful area! Great photos, soo much nature taking right to it. I would be unable to pull myself away. The water hawthorn is really lovely. A beauty and scented! I'd say the pond undertaking a great success. And wonderful blog. Thank you for sharing with us. :-)

We have minnows in our pond which I believe is the kingfisher's staple diet so hopefully he will return. I agree BB, once seen, never forgotten.

Thanks Gt - hope the the thaw is well under way with you when it comes to wildlife your part of the world hard to match .. I d never be in ! Whales eagles bears ...

Yes Dawn your very own garden jewel , lovely so envious .

Maybe I'll see the kingfisher again soon BB as the weather gets warmer - I'm always listening for his distinctive call. :-)

This looks lovely Bb. I particularly like the look of the stone surround. Much better if you can re use materials as in this case. And the pond is certainly doing it's job bringing in the wildlife. Wild life pond ' it does exactly what it says on the tin'

What a fantastic blog BB and you're pond is just beautiful! I'm so chuffed you have ducks, I'd be ecstatic that they'd had babies there too. The wildlife you've attracted is wonderful, especially the birdlife but what's more amazing is that the pond looks like it has always just been there, so natural.

Thanks Paul , this type of stone isnt actually recommended for ponds as its brittle and tends to split but when you inherit tons of it and it matches the walls and the cottage...

Thank you Reebeesfleurs what amazes us is that they tolerate us so well .. today I was trying to adjust the cascade as seem to be losing water through it . There I am with trowel cement and buckets while robin goldfinch siskin even mistle thrush happy to bathe and drink from pond while I m working on it ..such a thrill that they not intimidated by us and accept our presence .

Good pics, BB.
I especially like the waterfall sections.

Hopefully I ve sorted as more water coming out than going back in ! somehow managed to drain bottom pool before returning no matter how many times I filled it lol. Should flow more freely if sealed the edges properly ..

Its all the birds and wildlife that makes me think .....I should get going and build one too. What a delight!!

Thank you for the great photos and the fantastic commentary. It is good to read all the remarks.

You are all lucky to have such a variety of wildlife in your gardens.

Yes Inverglen even a small water feature will attract them so good luck - you certainly should get a lot of pleasure from it .

Thank you Marge - not too difficult as so many opportunities if only I could get them to appear in sequence ..

I'm not jealous at all......... Well done, you deserve it, after all your hard work. So gratifying to see all that wildlife, and what wildlife!!! So rare some of them! Love the water plants too, they look divine!

Just found this blog BB but I echo all of the above comments,wonderful photography and such diversity of life.Lovely to see it all flourishing again in spring,worth all the hard work !

Thank you Cratfnutter and Aster - the plants seem to bounce back as when moist they make such tempting nesting material . Hopefully the ducks nesting in the churchyard will arrive with ducklings soon and Cyril the squirrel is about to be a dad too , so things could be pretty hectic here soon.

O Wow! How did i miss this Blog Jane /Ray its Brilliant :) So much Wildlife & Pond Life youv done a fantastic Job there :) Well Done XXXX

Thank you Jacque so much going on on Goy easy to do - I ll apologise in advance as just seen how many blogs posted today alone !

You can probably see why we dont keep fish Jacque - can you imagine the queue for them here .. I ve been installing a pump and trying to get the cascade working .

Well it looks Great without fish Jane/Ray :) The Cascade looks Brill well done :)

Well thank you Jacque - it looks even better with water coming down it but it leaks somewhere ..so water not getting back to bottom pool : ( aw well back to plan ...z lol

:/ Hhhhhhmmmmmmm leaking u say ? That sure could be the reason youv no water getting in2 Bottom Pool ? lol

Thanks Jacque - the pond itself doesnt leak only when pump sends water from bottom pool back up to top.

I lined cascade with pond liner , cemented rocks in place must have missed a bit somewhere - freaked Jane by digging channels through her plants to lay cables and pipe - of course any normal person would do all this before putting plants in !

Oh, BB - it's amazing you didn't get two black eyes, doing that to Jane's precious plants! What a very forgiving person she is. I hope you realise how lucky you are!!!!! LOL.

Sorry Spritz having trouble reading your comment through my puffy eyes .. aye lucky to be breathing I guess...should be working but lawnmower blew up new one arrives Weds so promised Jane would try and fix cascade while we have some sun..on with shorts and off for a paddle

LOL Weathers great here this morning 2 BB :) Hope u find where the Problem is ? Sorry2hear about your mower but they say things happen 4 a reason & it is a lovely day ;)

fab pics and water feature. u got a garden or 1/2 a county!
i dread it when the tadpoles turn into frogs, charlie, our cocker cross will start to chase them and want to eat them. vet says to keep her away from frogs as they are poisonous to dogs.

Bb, you are sooo funny......! Lol!

Thanks for that Dave, didn't know that....

Poisonous to cats too, Dave - or perhaps it was a toad... for 3 years running our cat got really ill each May, and we were told she probably licked a toad. The last time she didn't recover. She was 15, and we miss her...

Aye Jacque things happen for a reason - it was knackered sun was shining , grass growing wish I had your optimism as flames shot up my leg ..well look on the bright side wont need my legs waxed for a few weeks ..

Not a big garden Dave just a big pond ! I ve heard that toads poisonous and not predated on like frogs are - many birds will eat frogs but wont touch toads but either way wouldnt recommend them in a dogs diet.Sorry about your cat Elke I believe the US has some highly toxic toads such as the cane toad not sure if you have them too ?

Aye Craftnutter just imagine what poor Jane has to contend with...

LOL, BB.

I didn't know frogs/toads were poisonous to dogs or cats?

Henry has never seen either - I don't know what he'd do!

Think its especially in America.....more venomous species...but certainly here toads avoided by pets !

Just great,thank you for sharing

Thankyou Deida,could spend all day and every day just watching it all ! : )

When do you take over Spring watch your photo's are out of this world

Aw Marann thanks but with one Oddie having just left .. dont think they could cope with another !

Our garden is nowhere near the size of yours BB but the pond will hopefully attract some wildlife when it's in.

Seeing these pics makes me excited about what 'might' visit us!

Great blog...

Any size pond is a great asset to the wildlife...sure you will be inundated in next to no time ! Looking forward to tracking your progress,via your photos !

I reckon so and hope the wildlife arrives quickly and enjoys what I can hopefully create for them...

Pics to follow! :0))

Our pair of nesting mallards arrived as was digging out pond ! Lined it with sand before putting in butyl liner,and there they were sitting at edge as if to say " Come on then..fill it with water " Lol