Talkback: Newts and pond water - Talkback

06/07/2008 at 15:31

I have a small pond in the garden which was here when I moved in. It is small and not very deep, however, it has loads of water lilies, water snails and one frog. Should I clean the pond as it is very muddy at the bottom or should I leave it be. Your comments would be appreciated.

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07/07/2008 at 09:23

Lucky you Richard, we moved to our new bungalow 3 years ago. The garden is a lot larger than our previous garden and as we are both disabled had a large pond made. The first summer we had dragonflies which laid eggs (but no newts) and this year they hatched, we know this because we found 2 casts by the pond. We have blanket weed also and we do top up the pond with tapwater, especially when we back wash the filter. I am very envious of the newts we have been hoping for some but no luck just yet

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07/07/2008 at 10:29

The advice I've always given is that ponds, like ditches and dykes, should be cleared piecemeal over a period of several years. This always means that some part of the water and edge is left alone and yet a rotation of clearance prevents too much built up of vegetation and infilling. With a small pond this just does not work. I'd suggest you leave the pond alone. Mud is fine, it's what many bottom-dwelling invertebrates live in. If it looks in danger of silting up completely then do a bit of dredging with your hands or a small scoop. The main danger to small garden ponds is leaf-fall from overhanging trees. This makes the water too nutrient-rich and it becomes dank and smelly. Oxygen is used up by the bacteria which means that aquatic wildlife cannot survive.

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08/07/2008 at 20:49

Hi I have a small pond. It has been in my garden for 20 years. It has fish,frogs/skaters/dragon flies and a lot more, I clean it by using a hose pipe I start a siphon and let the pipe suck up the contents at the bottom. Every third year.

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12/07/2008 at 20:12

I understand that newts eat frog spawn and tadpoles, which explains the shortage of tadpoles and frogs in some ponds.

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14/07/2008 at 02:08

I have two small ponds one in a half barrel which is still and I have a resident frog but the other has a pump worked by solar not wonderful for lack of sunshine renders it inactive haven't the means for anything flash but it makes a feature, we do have newts in the area but not in my little pond unfortunately

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16/07/2008 at 12:35

I have a large pond in the garden which until last year was full of carp (carp is a very popular fish to eat here in the Czech Republic)which we moved a another pond while maintanence work was carried out. This spring we refilled the pond but the fish wont be put back until the autumn and as a consequence it is full of wild life we've never seen in it before which includes the largest tadpoles I've ever seen. They have a head that is the same size as a 50p coin and are between 7-8cm long. We dont know if they are frogs or toads but are keeping a keen watch on them.

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29/07/2008 at 23:00

I'd love to know if my non-linner pond may empty of newtletts before the cold weather as the water is not very deep, the garden isn't finished,having nutured them with blood worm etc water butt water I would like to give them a proper home next year along with the bettles ,shrimp,weird things. If they are not going to move give me a suggestion of how to keep them safe many thanks

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30/07/2008 at 22:27

In my wildlife pond the pond weed always goes beserk in the early summer months so when i thin it out to give some clear water I put the harvested weed in the water butt. That way any newts eggs,or any other beasties will still hatch/survive and then it is a matter of netting them out once they've grown large enough and putting them back in the pond. It also has the advantage of no predators for them so the survival rate, in the early stages at least, is improved!

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31/07/2008 at 11:09

We have a medium-sized lined pond in our garden. We have had every type of wild-life in it that you can imagine, but this year all our taddies disappeared. We thought it might have been the newts, they are fat and active, red/yellow/spotted bellies. We do use an expensive chemical to clear the blanket weed, but this year bought a big bag of barley straw and submerged it, and it seems to have needed less chemical. Our frogs and toads are very friendly, and will sit happily anywhere in the garden and listen intelligently (!) while you talk to them. I think we love our pond better than any other part of the garden.

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03/08/2008 at 11:30

Hi Richard, we have just dug out a very large pond in a paddock. It is around 50ft by 40ft and approx 3 ft deep in middle. We have lined it with rubber and put a lot of plants round the side but in places the liner shows from the water edge upwards of about 12 ins. We dont want to put any more water in it, and there is no shelf at this particular side. a)Can you advise how we can cover it up please. b) Also the pool is at bottom of a slope and there is water running into it from the top of the field, however a lot of it comes under a horse manure heap, we have now moved this, but the ground there is rich, will this cause future problems.many thanks.

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15/09/2008 at 16:36

I found 3 newts in the old carpet that I had stored on my allotment. My allotment is surrounded on all sides by bushes and trees and the soil gets very hard over winter. I was concerned that the newts might not survive so I brought them home to my pond. I have 3 gold fish and 2 koi in the pond. The pond is also home to a large toad. I have had newts in there before but have not seen one for a number of years. Did I do the right thing in moving the 3 from the allotment? I am going to put some sacking down by the pond this evening - to give them extra cover and to give them a means of getting in and out of the water. (there is old decking around the pond so plenty of places to shelter). Is there anything else that I should do?

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09/10/2008 at 14:15

I have had to rescue 6 newts(one adult and 5 about 3-4cm long) from my swimming pool today and a half grown frog, which is very keen at climbing up the bucket? I have a walled pond and live quite close to a conservation pond can they survive without access to dry land, as if I put them in my pond they will not have. I would like to introduce them but do they co-habitate with pondfish? Or would it be kinder to take them to the conservation area?

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02/08/2009 at 16:11

I was advised by a wildlife site that fish eat newt eggs. So we have a pond and do not have any fish in it. We have some newts (but they stay hidden at the bottom) and some toadpoles that ,now they have turned into baby toads also stay out of sight. However we have aslo got three largish frogs who have decided to make their home in our pond! So I hope they do not eat the tiny toads/newts. I has heard they do, but the toadspawn they did not chase when it was on the surface of our pond, so I live in hope......!

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26/08/2009 at 15:27

hi we have got a pond with newts and fish, and also regularly frogspawn and toadspawn and it all seems to get along well enough - didn't get many actual froglets this year though we had them last year. We also have lots of dragonfly nymphs so I wondered if they ate everything?? Would like a view on water snails - I seem to have hundreds of them, breeding like fury. Is there an optimum number and how do I disperse them?

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28/11/2011 at 18:36

Hello Richard. I've always topped up my pond with rainwater from the waterbutt. But we still get blanket weed. We have 2 newts, still very small and very shy. We had lots of tad and toadpoles, but I think the birds eat a lot of them. They certainly eat the pondskaters,as we saw a blackbird with several in his beak. The water is getting rather murky and on sunny days you can almost see the blanket weed grow !! We have decided to try (am I allowed to mention a product?) Aquaplancton. Not cheap, but all the reviews are very positive. Enjoy all the recolonisation in your pond. It's fascinating, isn't it? By the way, we don't have any fish, only natural wildlife.

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