Last night we had some quite heavy rain- which is really relaxing when your trying to get to sleep- but above the rain I heard for the first time this year the frogs calling in the pond outside.
The pond is right by the bedroom window so its really quite easy to hear the frogs when they get going. Unfortunately they seem to prefer the Goldfishes pond over the 3 smaller wildlife ponds which I built specially for the frogs! So as a result we never get any surviving tadpoles.
The pond is right by the bedroom window so its really quite easy to hear the frogs when they get going. Unfortunately they seem to prefer the Goldfishes pond over the 3 smaller wildlife ponds which I built specially for the frogs! So as a result we never get any surviving tadpoles.
Our wildlife ponds we have are below:
Last year I dug the newest wildlife pond which is only 3ft by 3ft which was a great hit with the damselflies but the frogs didn't move in- I think if we get any spawn in the goldfish pond I will transfer it over to the wildlife pond so increase the numbers of little frogs in the area.
Our tabby kitten India loves trying to catch the frogs unfortunately- and several times over the summer we have to rescue frogs which have found themselves out of the water and confronted with an over excited tabby kitten! This probably is the reason for the frogs reluctance to move away from the larger and deeper goldfish pond!
We have introduced other amphibians into the garden but it is are harder to see if they are still around. There should be Common Newts and Common Toads in the garden.
I think 4 ponds in a tiny urban garden is more than enough for most people but- i just love them and am wondering where to put number 5!
That third photo is beautiful Owen - is that the goldfish pond? Love the water lily and I see you're growing a Thalia in one of your ponds too, good to see that added exotic touch! Love the third wildlife pond too, those Sarracenias look so at home there. I've always wanted to get a pond in our garden, although the reasons for getting one have varied so much! I used to have one of those preformed moulded ponds, but we then took that out when I decided to change the design of my garden. We've still go that mould somewhere and I'm sure one day it'll be reused! Anyway, in the new garden there's a stream, which we started a couple of years ago and it's only tiny but we've yet to finish that, although all that's really left are some more cobbles/slate to cover the liner, and the water runs into a large bucket, so no proper pond there either. Anyway, last year I went through a tropical water lily phase where my desire was to replace the lawn with a 12ft diameter pond, which in retrospect was madness! So I'm now hoping to possibly, depending on how expensive it'll be, get a small raised pond around the patio area for growing a tropical water lily or two in, and then also eventually creating another pond through reusing the mould, which will be more of a wildlife pond, and I'd also like to plant some Sarracenias around that. I've always wanted to see damsel/dragonflies in the garden, although we only average about 2/3 sighting a year! I'm hoping that if we get this wildlife pond that might help, as they're such beautiful creatures!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous kitty too - I love cats!!! We don't own one of our own, but there's a black and white one which belongs to a neighbour that's always in and out of our house, although like yours, he's also chased after frogs while we were outside last Summer eating dinner! Not nice to have a cat running around under the table chasing a squeking frog that's bouncing around in every which direction!
Squeaking frogs! You got it exactly right! :)
ReplyDeleteYes the third photo is of the goldfish pond in spring. Ive got about 4 lilies in the pond but that pink one is the only one that flowers. I should really thin out the others.
The one thing about pond plants it they grow soooooo fast- i always leave pruning them back till way too late and before you know it the water has dissappeared under a sea of green- it just seems to go against my nature to pull out healthy plants! But you have to- especially in small ponds like mine as the oxygenators die out.
Good luck with your new pond ideas- there are plenty of tropical looking waterlies around (ie they hold their flowers up above the water) which i looked at which might be a good alternative- i wouldnt go for lotus they just dont seem to like our hit and miss summers.
The damsels turned up the day i built the pond and the cats thought it was great! Many were scrunched up by them!