When asked to think about a pond, most of us will probably imagine a very “clean pond” with clear waters, filters, pumps and fish swimming around. On rare occasions you will find an entrepreneurial person that have transformed his outdoor pond into a wildlife pond.
What is a wildlife pond? You can think of a wildlife pond as a self-sustaining ecosystem. A corner of your backyard where nature is in control and you are only an observer.
How to create a wildlife outdoor pond?
1. Select a site close to nature, where wildlife have free access to your pond.
2. Build your pond as described below.
3. Add a bit of “dirty water” from a natural wildlife pond.
4. Let nature take control.
5. Eventually the environment will take care of the rest.
The results? Well, if you follow the steps described here you will have a variety of creatures living inside and around your pond, that will need little or no care at all.
How to build a wildlife pond. Creating a wildlife pond is very similar to any other informal outdoor pond, but you will need much less equipment as you don’t need filtration and aeration, your ecosystem will take care of the this. Your pond also won’t have fish in it, as they will threaten your insect population.
Place your pond close to nature, at the very edge of your property. But remember that your pond was build to attract insects, frogs and other animals, so to avoid future problems, place it on a site far from your house and neighbors property.
Wildlife you want to attract, specially small animals, will need hiding places, so keep the vegetation around your pond a bit high and untidy.
The elixir of pond life. Add a small quantity of “dirty water” you borrowed from an existing wildlife pond. This technique will introduce to your pond a population of organisms that can be naturally found in ponds like yours.
What kind of creatures will you attract? The water you took from a natural pond will kick start a rich population of insects. First comers will probably be pond skaters later followed by dragonflies. The next step is the arrival of toads, frogs and birds, the insect predators. You can buy toads and snails and introduce them to your pond, but make sure to keep the balance of your ecosystem. If the mosquito population starts to get out of control, you can add snails to keep them water clean of their eggs.
Wildlife ponds are not a common option for backyard ponds, but if well created it can be a unique addition to your backyard design.
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