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the online meeting place for all who love our amphibians and reptiles |
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Hand building a clay pond |
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GemmaJF 
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Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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 Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 8:21am |
I'm still exhausted several days after finishing it! Starwort is a favourite of mine too Suz, not sure how it managed not to be on my list, have to get some. I've always thought it was pretty ideal for small newts to lay eggs on. |
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GemmaJF
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Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 8:39am |
Perhaps for me that is the point, both plants are natives and will cause problems if fed large quantities of nutrients. In many of the situations where I see them in the wild nutrients are limited and they are not troublesome. In all I try to keep nutrient levels extremely low in wildlife ponds. Some of the best amphibian ponds I know of have barely any aquatic vegetation. Many others I have surveyed would be fantastic amphibian ponds if it were not for high nutrient levels and the resulting over proliferation of one or two plant species that results. |
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PondDragon
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Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Status: Offline Points: 55 |
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Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 9:45am |
I was referring to the aquatic flowering plant Hippuris vulgaris, not the garden weed Equisetum arvense (horsetail). |
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Suzy
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Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1447 |
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Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 11:18am |
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Apologies for mixing up my mare's tails. I know the garden weed by that name as well. I had quickly Googled it before posting but the images I saw looked like the garden weed. Am I correct though that the pond variety can also be quite invasive?
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Suz
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PondDragon
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Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 11:52am |
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I've never heard Hippuris referred to as being particularly troublesome. It's rhizomatous so it does spread, but the growth isn't particularly dense. I like the way it intermingles with some of the other species I mentioned above - I could try to post a photo later.
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GemmaJF
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Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 7:55pm |
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I would imagine Mare's Tail in a clay pond could be a major problem though PondDragon? Surely it would happily root in the clay and rapidly take over the entire pond? As the only real option to eradicate it would be chemical I think I'll steer well clear of it!
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PondDragon
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Posted: 17 Sep 2014 at 10:47pm |
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I don't know, but I can't really imagine it being a problem. Apart from anything else I think it does provide good habitat - both submerged and aerial forms. Obviously if you don't like it then don't plant it. Water Mint, now, that is pretty vigorous - sending out long stolons across the pond. Very nice though, and the GC newts love it.
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GemmaJF
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Posted: 18 Sep 2014 at 9:18am |
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Yep one has to keep on eye on water mint, though I could live with a pond full of it!
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GemmaJF
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Posted: 18 Sep 2014 at 11:45am |
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Did quite a bit of tidying up yesterday around the pond. During the re-construction the edge managed to grow up out of the ground several inches as the liner was covered and the other layers added so I'm ding a lot of filling in before trimming away the excess plastic liner.
I've ordered in a couple of large bags of topsoil to help level the surrounding ground. Water level is stable, I'm keeping it an inch or so low at the moment whilst the top soil settles in an attempt to prevent it all washing into the pond and exposing the clay. I've noticed a couple of places where worms have been active. It is most likely they were in the clay mix rather than they are working their way in from outside the plastic liner. Before the worm holes were clearly visible. Now one just sees a small patch of bentonite as it swells and fills the hole. I've improved access all round the pond by digging away a bit at the existing bund too. Finally starting to believe the whole project is now a success!  |
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Chris Monk
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Posted: 19 Sep 2014 at 11:29pm |
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As Pond dragon hasn't found his photo yet, here's a picture of Hippuris vulgaris dominating the aquatic flora of a pond taken in late April this year.
 Three things about this pond 1) It's a great crested newt breeding pond on a SSSI and SAC 2) I first went there and found GCN in 1985 3) The pond looks almost the same as it did in 1985, the marestail has kept the Typha (which you can see scattered across the pond) in check all this time as that was also present in 1985, there is Potamogeton natans inbetween the stems, the water has always been very clear on every visit and it is wonderful for invertebrates as well as newts. Still not the first plant I would think of putting in a garden pond. |
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Derbyshire Amphibian & Reptile Group www.derbyshirearg.co.uk |
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