this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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Rewilding Project: Step 1 - dig a pond (feddit.uk)
submitted 1 year ago by Risk@feddit.uk to c/casualuk@feddit.uk
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Needed some positivity in life, so just upped and decided to rewild our front garden.

My wife and I have talked about making the front garden a wildflower meadow (which will be step 3 or 4), but my wife likes frogs so I thought I'd gamble on the chance that a little pond might attract some - as well as being a boon for wildlife in general.

We used the kids' old paddling pool, as you can see, and I'm following guidance found on various websites (e.g. rewildingbritain.org.uk, RSPB, etcetera).

Step 2 will be buying some native pond plants once we've got some rainwater in.

Once we've got the meadow going, I'm planning on seeing if I can recruit any neighbours. (First target is next door who has never once used their garden and only goes out to strim it down. I'm hoping I can tempt them with an offer of turning it into a meadow for free, seeing as they paid for our shared fence.)

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[–] Mex@feddit.uk 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Love a micro pond, see if you can get some movement in that water cheap solar pumps are easy to get now, will help stop it getting to stanky

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago

Definitely - I had one and it kept the pond in a much better condition.

[–] Risk@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the tip!

[–] Mex@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No problem, I built a bucket pond (large planter) this year will be interesting to see how it does over the winter.

[–] Risk@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ooh! Share pictures! How's it progressing so far?

[–] Mex@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Need some taller plants in and around it still.

[–] giant_smeeg@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

I'm interested in this. Did you read anything? I know nothing but it sounds like a cool project for me and my kid.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good stuff, makes me wonder if we need a rewilding community.

I did something similar in my previous house, so some suggestions:

  • On one side if the pond dig down 5-6 inches and lay down some plastic sheeting. You can then turn this into a bog garden. If you lower the lip of the pond slightly on that side, excess rain water will drain into the bog garden.
  • Have a chat with the Council, local wildlife groups and Landlife - it may be you can get a specific wildflower seed mix for your area, preserving local plants that thrive in your soil/climate. It may be the Council is planning or have made a wildflower meadow (or you could encourage them to do so) with a specific mix. You could end up with large wildflower meadows and then little wildflower islands linking them up.
  • Frog spawn is relatively easy to come by, ask around others with a pond - my neighbour was dying to give some away. I ended up chasing frogs around the house so be careful what you wish for.
  • Look after your hedgehogs - I had stone walls which wasn't great for them (when it snowed you could see their footprints coming out if one gate, onto the pavement and down another). If neighbours are interested you could drill a suitably sized hole in the fences and feed a shirt length of pipe through. You can buy little hedgehog hotels which you could stash away in the corner of the garden. I've currently got 4 of them roaming round.
  • Put up a bee hotel. Help those rarer bees find a home. We have a local pest control firm that will also rehouse tree bees and they have a network of boxes across the region that they take them too.
  • Put up a bug hotel - you can also get combined bee and bug hotels.
  • If there is any fallen or chopped down wood then pile some up and let it rot a bit. Great for bugs and fungi.
[–] Risk@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Great tips! Thank you. I'll look in to Landlife. And I'll have to look in to a bog garden to see if we want one; beneath the turf and building rubbish, we have very hard, dry clay soil.

One of the recommendations I've seen twice regarding frogs is not to transfer stuff between ponds because of a risk of disease?

Hedgehogs is something I want to sort. We used to have visitors as our row of houses 'back gardens are linked via an old hedgerow to a big unused plot of land. However, I foolishly blocked up the hole the hedgehogs were using as we were also getting a lot of cats in via the hole who like to shit all over our lawn - which isn't great for our little kids playing in the garden (which they do basically year round). I'm going to restore the hole, but only the recommended 13x13 cm in the hopes that stops the cats.

Hedgehog hotel may be introduced into the hedges that are behind the pond in the picture. That might be step 7 or 8 ha.

We do have a little bee hotel (pre-built, 20x15x15 cm or so of stacked bamboo sticks with an aluminium roof) - but it's always just been overrun by spiders. Any advice?

We don't have any chopped wood - but I might put the hedge trimmings under the hedge instead of in the garden waste bin?

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Breeding ground for all sorts of flying fuckwits

[–] Risk@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm hoping to make it healthy enough that the flying fuckwits (presuming you mean mosquitoes) are kept under predation. We already have a mosquito problem via our back garden as a neighbour has a (I think) neglected pond. Might try and help them get it sorted if all goes well.

We're also not far from a fairly small and sluggish river so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

Ah alright so you're fucked with them already then haha

Yeah meant mosquitoes and horse flies

[–] tkc@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

You're not wrong, but those flying fuckwits are an important and valid part of the ecosystem. Rewilding is all about doing away with some of our human conveniences that have made life difficult for all types of wildlife.