Best way to shift a pond

[Ian Tracey]

Hi All

I need to empty one pond (out of the two I have) to allow me to move the
shed to build a bigger pond, in the right location. Then I plan to get rid
of the second pond, which is currently leaking. The first one is under
three trees and just silts up with leaf - making it pretty useless - hence
the desire to put a shed under it and the semi shady part of the garden will
get the final new pond.

My question is: what tips can people share to make the pond emptying go as
well as possible from a wildlife point of view ?

Other useful (perhaps) info:

Pond 1 has some frogs and a newt that use it. It is very shallow, but sunk
ingo the ground.
Pond 2 is a raised pond, has fish quite a lot of frogs and several newts as
well. However in summer is can lose 2 inches in a day through various
cracks in the cement render. I have plugged some cracks externally and let
the water drop to under the major ones. However topping up is not a viable
long term plan. It is also in a "bad" posistion from a garden layout point
of view, and I must consider the other people who use the garden.

I plan to leave at leat 3 months if not six before each move. So my current
plan is:-

Remove Pond 1 (perhaps in the next 6 weeks)
Build shed
Build Pond 3 late summer
Remove pond 2 in Spring next year.

I don't know if it is better to do some stages at certain times of the year
e.g. I guess try and leave ponds till end of summer in case they are used
for spawning or do I worry about the time it takes wildlife to migrate etc..
Comments and advice from the floor

cheers

ian

[Tumbleweed]

Post by Ian Tracey
Hi All
I need to empty one pond (out of the two I have) to allow me to move the
shed to build a bigger pond, in the right location. Then I plan to get rid
of the second pond, which is currently leaking. The first one is under
three trees and just silts up with leaf - making it pretty useless - hence
the desire to put a shed under it and the semi shady part of the garden will
get the final new pond.
My question is: what tips can people share to make the pond emptying go as
well as possible from a wildlife point of view ?
Pond 1 has some frogs and a newt that use it. It is very shallow, but sunk
ingo the ground.
Pond 2 is a raised pond, has fish quite a lot of frogs and several newts as
well. However in summer is can lose 2 inches in a day through various
cracks in the cement render. I have plugged some cracks externally and let
the water drop to under the major ones. However topping up is not a viable
long term plan. It is also in a "bad" posistion from a garden layout point
of view, and I must consider the other people who use the garden.
I plan to leave at leat 3 months if not six before each move. So my current
plan is:-
Remove Pond 1 (perhaps in the next 6 weeks)
Build shed
Build Pond 3 late summer
Remove pond 2 in Spring next year.
I don't know if it is better to do some stages at certain times of the year
e.g. I guess try and leave ponds till end of summer in case they are used
for spawning or do I worry about the time it takes wildlife to migrate etc..
Comments and advice from the floor
cheers
ian

When I rebuilt a pond I did it in autumn, on the grounds that most animals
with a lifecycle in the pond have vacated (ie frogs and the like), and also
that the new pond would get off to a good start in the Spring. Plus it wasnt
too hot to dig, or too cold and wet.
Otherwise you'll be messing with the pond in Winter (possibly unpleasant for
you) or Summer (bad news digging if its really hot, did that once), or
Spring (unpleasant for lots of animals who would be starting to use it,and
when plant growth starts up). Also means that when the new pond is at its
barest is probably the time you are least in the garden .