The Pond Overfloweth
It’s lovely having a small wildlife pond tucked away amongst the plants in the garden. It’s nothing grand, certainly not one of those landscaped affairs with waterfalls, lighting systems and ornamental fish, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to attracting wildlife. With nettles and weeds behind it, and plenty of slightly wild, unkempt corridors of plants all around, it’s a little wildlife haven.
Admittedly it looks a little overgrown at times. The surrounding shrubs need cutting back and maybe I should have made it a little larger to allow for more vegetation encroachment, but the inhabitants don’t seem to mind. Over the years it has become home, or at least a regular stopping point, for all sorts of creatures. Diving beetles patrol the depths like miniature submarines, damsel flies hover over the water in summer, pond skaters skim the surface, spiders stake out the surrounding vegetation and a resident frog appears from time to time to remind me that somebody is making good use of the place. Most importantly of all, our honey bees rely on it as a vital source of water throughout the warmer months.
The shed has a couple of water butts which collect rainwater from the roof. One of these has a little split in it, so doesn’t hold water as well as it could, and it occurred to me that the two simply needed connecting. After a bit of tinkering, I installed a pipe to divert surplus water from the butt directly into the pond. Nothing particularly sophisticated, just a practical solution using what was already there. Hopefully the water butt will act as a temporary holding area for rainwater and allow it to slowly trickle into the pond.
After the recent rain the pond is now fuller than I can ever remember seeing it. Well, except perhaps in winter when the back half of the garden turns into a lake. Instead of watching the water level slowly creep downwards, I now find myself looking at a pond that seems comfortably topped up without any effort from me. Every shower of rain falling on the shed roof now contributes directly to maintaining this little wildlife oasis.
It’s only been a day so far, and a very wet one at that, so only time will tell how quickly the level drops once we get a dry spell. At least now it’ll top itself back up quite quickly afterwards.
The bees certainly won’t care how the water gets there. The frog probably won’t either. And now I can enjoy a fuller pond more often as well. It’s not all about the wildlife after all; I want to enjoy it too.
Sometimes luxury isn’t about having more. Sometimes it’s simply having enough water in the pond.
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