Small wildlife pond

[pubrunner]

Hi All,

I've won agreement from my better half, that we can have a smallish wildlife pond in the garden.

I'd like to know what would be a sensible size for it to be sustainable. There won't be any fish, but hopefully some frogs/newts might appear.

I can see that there are 'hard' pre-formed liners available and also the flexible 'skin' type liners - which should I go for ? The concern that I'd have with the hard, pre-formed liners, is the shape of them - most have steep sides, which would make it difficult for hedgehogs etc to get out. That said, I guess the hard type of liner is more durable and resistant to accidental damage (?).

Any advice gratefully received

[pubrunner]

PositronicRay said:

Stones and gravel to make a beach.

That pond is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for !

I've read in some quarters, that a garden pond should be 24 inches deep - should that rule apply to all ponds, or just those where fish are kept ?

This is possibly a silly question, but if a flexible 'soft' liner is used, how is the depth of the pond taken into account when measuring for the size of the liner ? If there's excess liner, is that just cut off or somehow buried at the edges ?

[pubrunner]

Silvanus said:

As you've mentioned, no fish is a good idea for a wildlife pond with one exception, stickleback. These can be a good addition to a wildlife pond and although predators, they don't cause an imbalance as they are also prey to things like dragon fly nymphs and water beetles.

Are (native) minnows a 'no no' ?

Another question if I may . . . . . . . how deep does a pond need to be for frogs/newts to breed ?

Edited by pubrunner on Friday 26th May 13:53