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Incorporating a water feature in your garden is one of the best ways to invite wildlife into your yard. By building a simple wildlife pond, you will witness frogs, invertebrates, newts, toads, and even chipmunks. And a pond will be a great companion to your butterfly garden if you have one. And the best part is that you can make it all yourself!
Begin with picking up a location and marking an outline for the pond. Then, dig up the area and cover the pot with a liner before filling it with water. Now, cover the exposed liner with pebbles and plant some water plants.
Sounds easy, right? But there are many things that you need to keep in mind if you want your wildlife pond to fulfill its purpose – to become a water haven for wildlife. And if you wish to build a pond that can do that, we have a step-by-step guide to help you.
Things You Will Need
Before we begin, here is a list of things that you will need:
- A sufficiently large patch of turf
- Spade or garden fork
- A plank of wood and pegs
- A bubble level
- Pond liner
- Rocks and pebbles
- Sand or gravel
- Water (preferably rainwater)
- Underwater and floating plants
Step 1: Picking the Site
A suitable spot for a wildlife pond should only get dappled sunshine. So, pick a spot that is away from overhanging trees. The pond must be in a shaded area as it will help in reducing issues with algae.
Moreover, various pond plants and animals prefer shade. However, you should not pick a spot that receives no sunlight. So, it is better to pick a spot where some part of the pond will be exposed to sunlight. This will also help warm the water during springtime, making it a desirable spot for spawning frogs and toads.
Step 2: Outlining
Once you have picked the right location for your wildlife pond, you must outline the pond shape you want before digging. You can do this with the help of a hosepipe or a rope. And since this is a wildlife pond, you can go in any shape. You may even give it a more ‘natural look by keeping the edges a little uneven.
But if you have a definite shape in mind, it is better to view the outline from different angles and adjust it according to your preferences. Then, View it from various angles and adjust the shape until you are happy with it. Now, with the help of some pegs, a straight board, and a level, ensure that the area is perfectly leveled.
Step 3: Digging
While excavating, ensure that you do not go too deep. Also, save the turves, as these can come in handy when rounding the pond’s edge. Even if you do not use them, ensure that you do not put them in the pond. This will pollute the water and will damage the plants as well.
Next, you must remove all the sharp stones and everything else that comes your way.
While digging, you need to be sure that you incorporate a shallow and long slope at one side of the pond. While this will allow easy access to frogs, it will also help beetles, bugs, and other insects or animals to find their way out of the pond if they fall inside.
Also, remember that you should leave around half of the pond shallow (around the pond’s perimeter), while the deeper end should not be more than 30 centimeters. Shallow basins can do wonders for your pond. Tadpoles like to spend a lot of time in shallow pond areas.
But if you are living in an area that experiences harsh winters, you can dig down to 50 or 60 centimeters to keep the fish warm.
Step 4: Building a hibernaculum
While you are planning to invite wildlife to your pond, you should also be able to offer them a cozy space throughout the year. With a hibernaculum, frogs and other amphibians will have a place to hibernate during winter. You must dig a hole around 50 centimeters deep and 1.5 meters wide. You can use a wood pallet as a base for your hibernaculum.
Now, you can put some logs and branches and spread stuff like cups or pipes that will offer frogs a place to hibernate. You can also spread some leaves, soil, and rocks along with it. You may even add another layer before covering it with soil completely. Be sure that there are a few drainpipes that remain uncovered.
These pipes will act as an entrance tunnel leading the frogs to the hibernaculum. Now, you must wait for the winters when frogs and toads will hope their way into this comfy hibernaculum.
Step 5: Lining The Pond
After finishing all the toil, you need to line up the pond. But before this, you need to create a protective layer using sand, old newspapers, or cardboard. You may even buy commercial liner protectors that are pretty affordable.
Sand is one of the most preferred options since it is sterile and would prevent the pond surface from harboring microbes. But be sure you do not use all the sand, which comes in handy in the next step.
Now that you have prepped the pond’s surface, you can begin lining it up. Butyl rubber is one of the best materials for this, giving the pond a more natural look. This is the reason why concrete is not quite suitable for a wildlife pond. Moreover, they can be difficult to install and may even crack.
To ensure that you pick the right size, measure the maximum length, width, and depth of the pond and then follow this table:
| Liner width | 2 x depth + pond width + 30cm |
| Liner length | 2 x depth + pond length + 30cm |
Once you have the right measurements of the liner, it is time to lay it on the pond. Carefully open the liner and ensure that it overlaps well on each side. Once you have lined up the pond, you can weigh the edges with rocks or anything heavy.
Avoid walking on the liner as it can damage and even cause punctures. There would be some excess liner left, but you must wait for a little more until you can trim it off.
Step 6: Filling with Water
Filling up the pond with tap water can work just fine. But for best results, it is suggested that you go with rainwater. And filling up the entire pond may take a while. So, you can use this time to place turf, fill soil, or flagstones on the parts of the liner exposed at the edges.
This is particularly important if you have used a butyl liner, as it tends to degrade when exposed to sunlight for a long period.
Step 7: Creating a Boundary
Once you have filled the pond, it is time to create a boundary. Since this is a wildlife pond, rocks and pebbles would be a good choice. While creating a boundary, you do not have to make it look perfect. Moreover, the more gaps you leave, the better it is. These gaps between the rocks will create a cavity where fish and tadpoles can hide from cats and birds.
Once you have created a rough boundary, you must cover the tops with large slabs. This would not just give the pond a complete look but also ensure that there is only a single access to the cavities.
Now that you have a pond, you can trim the excess liner. After this, you can cover the shallow basins with soil, gravel, or pebbles. Be sure these pebbles are spread throughout the slope towards the pond’s edge.
If needed, you can put some large stones at the base of the slope and switch to small pebbles while working your way through the top.
Step 8: Adding Plants
Well, you do not necessarily have to add plants to your pond. Plants will naturally colonize the pond over time. And while watching plants naturally grow in your pond is fascinating, various gardeners cannot wait to see their pond full of fresh plants. Or they are just extremely excited to decorate it on their own.
Before planting, you must let your pond rest for a few days. After this, you can add local, native, or wild-sourced plants to your pond. It is better to have plants in aquatic baskets rather than adding soil all over the base of the pond.
Excess soil may introduce a lot of nutrients to the pond, which can result in algae. Moreover, aquatic baskets are more manageable, especially if you are planting native plants, as they can be invasive.
Picking the right plants is quite essential. There are four categories of aquatic plants, and a mix of them would help you maintain an ecological balance in your pond. You can choose from the following:
| Submerged (in deeper water) – oxygenating plants | Submerged, with floating leaves – oxygenating plants | Emergent (in shallow areas) | Marginal (growing in the pond edge and bog areas) |
| Spiked Water-milfoil – Myriophyllum spicatum | Water Crowfoot/Buttercup – Bladderwort – Utricularia spp | Branched Bur-reed – Sparganium erectum (tall, can be invasive) | Flowering Rush – Butomus umbellatus |
| Hornwort – Ceratophyllum demersum (pollution intolerant) | Ranunculus aquatilis (pollution intolerant) | Amphibious Bistort – Persicaria amphibium | Lady’s Smock – Cardamine pratensis |
| Shining Pondweed – Potamogeton lucens | Frogbit – Hydrocharis morsus-ranae | Arrowhead – Sagittaria aquatilis | Purple Loosestrife – Lythrum salicaria (tall, good for bees) |
| Horned Pondweed – Zannichellia palustris | Broad-leaved Pondweed – Potamogeton natans (pollution tolerant) | Water Crowfoot – Ranunculus aquatilis | Marsh Marigold – Caltha palustris |
| Fennel Pondweed – Potamogeton pectinatus (pollution tolerant) | Curled Pondweed – Potamogeton crispus (pollution tolerant) | Water Mint – Mentha aquatica (can be invasive, strong scent deters some insects) | Gipsywort – Lycopus europaeus |
For a better idea of how to build a pond, you can watch the video below:
Step 9: Waiting
Once you have planted certain aquatic plants in your pond, you are done with all the work. Now, all you need to do is wait and let the wildlife visit this new freshwater haven. While mammals, bugs, frogs, turtles, and birds will find their way to your pond, there are quite a few ways to encourage wildlife that you can try:
Create microhabitats
The cavities we created along the pond’s edges in step 7 will create a microhabitat and attract wildlife to your pond.
Add nesting structures
Creating nesting structures like wood boxes, platforms, or bug hotels can attract wildlife further.
Place rocks and logs on the pond edge
Placing logs and rocks along the pond’s edge will offer an excellent spot for cold-blooded bodies to bask in the sun.
Conclusion on a step-by-step guide on building a simple wildlife pond
Building a pond from scratch can be tiresome, but I am sure it is all worth it in the end. Witnessing wildlife visiting your pond is a fascinating experience. Not to mention, the aesthetic value of your garden is going to be soaring high just with this one little addition.
If you already have a pond but wish to give it a whole new look, I have a video that can help you. You can watch it below.
I hope this guide will help you build your own pond inviting wildlife to your garden and improving its overall health and appearance. So, are you ready to build a wildlife pond in your garden?
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