Pondlife update

Some of you will remember my last blog post about digging our latest Pond, well I promised an update as soon as I could and here it is.

You will see by the photo that it is filling nicely with water from the field drains, it's by no means full yet but the dogs both managed a lovely swim in it on Bank Holiday Saturday.  The ditch that was dug is steadily trickling into the pond and its at least stopping the adjoining field from flooding!! Often that field causes flood risks to our newly planted seeds, and the loss of a great deal of nutrient rich topsoil too. This has happened for several years and was what prompted Chris to dig the pond and ditch too.

I am amazed at how quickly the wildlife has adapted to using the pond, when we arrived there were two ducks swimming across the water, looking very much at home there.  On the shores we spotted deer hoofprints so they have been using it as a valuable water source, previously denied to them as the flood water would be muddy and silty.  There were also lots of bird prints too so the birdlife is enjoying the newest eco project facility too!

As well as the pond there will be a lovely boggy, marshy area too so we are hopeful that insects and frogs and toads might enjoy moving into that area as well as wading birds.

The dogs were very excited to have a cooling swim on a hot Saturday and we found out that Walter is not the best swimmer in the family.  He does a lovely ‘doggy paddle’ but is very ungainly and makes a lot of splashing and noise. Frank is very graceful and glides through the water but they both swam willingly and were reluctant to leave. We walked around the field for a while to let the dogs dry and were rewarded by the sound of skylarks singing, such a beautiful sound, we also saw curlews and rather a lot of nesting pheasants, all pointed out by Walter and Frank. They do not disturb the birds, just point out where they are, Walter’s tail spins around when he’s on the trail, he’s so excited to be doing his natural job, pointing out game.

I will be posting again as the pond progresses, but we are very impressed with the results so far and it seems that the wildlife, birdlife and doglife are enjoying it already too.