Autumn and winter pond maintenance

• The most important task in autumn is to keep the water free from decaying vegetation. Remove dead and dying foliage regularly and prune back excess growth of submerged plants. Place netting over the pond where practicable as this can help autumn maintenance by keeping leaves and debris from falling in and fouling the water.
• During the winter months ice may form, trapping methane gas which is released from submerged decaying vegetation and is potentially lethal to fish. Ice also exerts excess pressure on the sides of concrete ponds, often causing them to crack. Ensure that the pond remains free of ice by floating a ball on the pond’s surface, or use an electric pool heater. This gives out just enough heat to maintain a small area of open water.

If you are concerned at all about your pond during the winter months please do give us a call.

Pond wildlife – great for gardens and for the animals that live there.

Our wild animals and plants have been losing their natural homes over the years, as woodlands, hedgerows, fields, marshes and ponds have been destroyed to make way for roads, houses, factories etc.

There are over a million acres of private gardens in Britain, not to mention the acres of land belonging to schools. Any garden, however small, and whether in the countryside or city, can be made into a nature reserve – land where wildlife finds a suitable home. We cannot expect to turn our gardens into homes for endangered animals such as otters and ospreys, but we can help a huge variety of plants and animals – remember that even common species could become rare some time in the future, especially if they have nowhere suitable to live.

Another important reason for having a garden full of wildlife is that it is so convenient – we can study the natural world right outside our back door.

A pond is a fascinating habitat to study, a good habitat teeming with a great variety of both animal and plant life. The community (all the species of animals and plants present) in one pond may be quite different from that in another, even if the ponds are close together.

This is because most pond animals cannot travel from one pond to another. Also the water temperature, oxygen content, water cleanliness and the material of the pond bottom have an influence on the kind of life present. In any pond it is essential that there is a balance of different kinds of organisms so that there is enough food for them all to live and reproduce.

If you would like to discover more about the wildlife in your garden pond then visit the excellent Young Peoples Trust For the Environment website,