The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: skeeterm5 on January 20, 2022, 07:14:01 pm
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Hi all,
One of our fields is on a gentle slope and the water runs down and collects at the bottom along the fence line. It then slowly drains away along the fence direction.
I would like to take advantage of this natural water course and make a small natural pond and generally to rewild the whole field.
My thinking was to build up a mound of dirt to try and contain the water and also to dig down a little to make deeper depression. I don't want to use a liner if possible.
Has anybody done this or have any tips?
Thanks
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I'm thinking frogs may lay their eggs in there and then the water seeps away.
I would line it. (Unless you have clay in the area, I think it's called puddling?)
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As Penninehillbilly says, you would need to line or puddle it. Even where I live in Scotland we had a serious drought last year, and your pond would have dried up totally. We have two ponds, both lined, but the water evaporated fast and the fish in one weren't happy. Find out how to puddle the pond, online, in a book, so you get it right first time. You could have a 'puddling party', rather like treading the grape harvest ;D
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Thanks both. A liner it is then.
[member=4333]Fleecewife[/member] we are also in Scotland, in Aberdeenshire close to the Cairngorms.
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Thanks both. A liner it is then.
[member=4333]Fleecewife[/member] we are also in Scotland, in Aberdeenshire close to the Cairngorms.
So you will be in the rain shadow of the Grampians and even more prone to drought than we are.
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Um, maybe not, FW :innocent: - it does actually rain a lot in the shadow of the mighty Cairngorms. :gloomy: Been there, done it, got the T shirt; :roflanim: happy now down in the middle of our lovely country - very little snow :fc: :eyelashes:
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Um, maybe not, FW :innocent: - it does actually rain a lot in the shadow of the mighty Cairngorms. :gloomy: Been there, done it, got the T shirt; :roflanim: happy now down in the middle of our lovely country - very little snow :fc: :eyelashes:
:roflanim: Not much use for a Tshirt then ;D
So my Geography teachers lied with all that about Orographic Uplift, Rain Shadows and so on - :idea: :gloomy:
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Thanks both. A liner it is then.
[member=4333]Fleecewife[/member] we are also in Scotland, in Aberdeenshire close to the Cairngorms.
Check out "Tap of Noth" on youtube. They have done ponds/rewilding and using trees on their smallholding. And they are up North in Aberdeenshire.
Also depending on the size of your pond and what category your field is (I presume it is agricultural) then you may (or may not) need some kind of nod from your local planning officer. Also depends on how close you are to roads, other properties etc.
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Sunny Angus gets the rain shadow FW.
I’d want to avoid plastic too. Find clay instead. I know someone who’s built several ponds for his permaculture garden in st Cyrus using clay on his site to line them.
Ive also been learning about the benefit of aerating standing water using a small solar pump to return water upstream and allowing to to flow back down again. Or having it as a little fountain.
You could Do one bit extra deep as an emergency water reserve.
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We've done it here at Tipton's Croft but are very lucky as there is a deep layer of clay under the topsoil, so no liner needed. You'll need a decent 360 digger (and a dumper) even for the smallest hole and you'll be surprised by how much spoil comes out of even a small hole: it will need to go somewhere so plan for that. We used ours to improve other parts of the field and built up some large earth banks that we left to rewild.
Go for it: this country has lost so many ponds over the years.
(https://tiptonscroft.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2018.10.17-The-Pond-E-a.jpg)
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Do you have any pics [member=135653]edstrong[/member] of it full and functioning, or have you only just done it? It looks pretty amazing :thumbsup:
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Do you have any pics [member=135653]edstrong[/member] of it full and functioning, or have you only just done it? It looks pretty amazing :thumbsup:
Lots of pics! The Pond at Tipton's Croft (https://tiptonscroft.org.uk/blog/the-pond/)
It filled very quickly when we first dug it, partly due to the digger exposing loads of old land drains that then opened up with the first winter rains. Within six months it was almost full. We've had a little extension this autumn so the level has dropped again but should fill up when the rains start again.
We're also very lucky the only water that feeds into the pond is from our field so we know exactly what goes into it e.g. no fertiliser/nitrates.
(https://tiptonscroft.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021.11.14-The-Pond-4200-a.jpg)
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Edstrong, your pages are fantastic, but please put a warning up, do not look when you have other jobs to do, far too interesting. ;D
Good job, looks wonderful.
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Thanks everybody for the thoughts.
The soil doesn’t have clay, so on balance I think I am going for a liner.
We do have a water supply close from our borehole so could keep it wet in the event of a summer drought.
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Edstrong, your pages are fantastic, but please put a warning up, do not look when you have other jobs to do, far too interesting. ;D
Good job, looks wonderful.
Me too, brilliant site. It's the first thing I've seen that makes me envious of living in England :o [member=135653]edstrong[/member] I think you would have plenty to add to my 'Gardening for Bumble Bees' topic in 'Wildlife'. You clearly have a plethora of insects and natural beauty around you and you know what you are doing. My paltry efforts in an icy part of Scotland pale into insignificance against your Heaven. I live in a wildlife desert so although we have had ponds here since we arrived 26 years ago, we have never attracted a single newt, the toads died out in a very severe winter and have not returned, and I was superexcited when dragon flies arrived last year :yippee: . The point I take from the lack of wildlife here is that every little bit we can do has to be a positive :thumbsup:
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Thanks for the comments!
Don't give up on the small ponds: every bit counts, and small wildlife-friendly gardens can act as stepping stones, linking them all together to the wider natural world. Will check out the bee-friendly thread.
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[member=135653]edstrong[/member] your posts are amazing and very inspiring. Thank you.
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We dug a small natural pond for our duck, as the soil was clay I had assumed it would be ok and not need a liner. The first year the water level changed dramatically with the seasons and we were considering puddling it, stuff for in the way as it always does, any after years 2 and 3 the level stays pretty constant. I put in a spill way pipe so the overflow runs into our drainage ditch in heavy rain but there is only minimal level drops in the summer now. Nature found the way!
The only think I would say is our water never looks really clean, no doubt this is partly the ducks, but also the clay side. This year I will look at some plants to clean it up a bit and if that doesnt work a circulation pump maybe.
Good luck with your pond
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Thanks all.
We dug some test holes and the water drains away relatively quickly so I am going to go down the liner route. We have pegged out the area to make sure it is the size we want and also worked out what trees we want to plant in the area too.
Work to start shortly, I will update as we go.
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Thanks all.
We dug some test holes and the water drains away relatively quickly so I am going to go down the liner route. We have pegged out the area to make sure it is the size we want and also worked out what trees we want to plant in the area too.
Work to start shortly, I will update as we go.
[member=214159]skeeterm5[/member] With photos?
I set up a website when I built my house in 2005, but took it down when I moved. Loads of photos. Wish I'd just renewed the domain name fee now as I had a scare last week when my pup pressed a button on my laptop and I thought he had deleted all my photos.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to recover them from the cloud and in despair, I suddenly discovered he must have pressed return when I was moving something and there they were on my desktop. Unfortunately no narrative but I'm going to try to reinstate the website
The moral is 'don't rely entirely on the cloud!' and 'tie the pup to a ball and chain when working on the laptop' :innocent: :roflanim:
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I will try to do a blog of sorts to show progress and then people can marvel at my skills (or lack thereof). A new thread to start in due course.
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I will try to do a blog of sorts to show progress and then people can marvel at my skills (or lack thereof). A new thread to start in due course.
Please do: it would be great to see how it turns out.