[Chicken_House]

Hi All,

Apologies if this isn't the right topic for this forum or site, but thought I'd ask, as everyone has such a wealth of info.

We've been at the Chicken House for 8 months now (The chickens are doing great!) and now need to focus on the large natural pond about 10m by 4m (no idea of depth so far) which has been slowly getting lower and lower in water and more and more stagnant over the summer period.

With recent rain, the levels are almost back to the top but it still looks generally brown, murky and not very healthy. I'm organising for someone to come and dig trenches around the field to ensure a fresh flow of water to the pond whenever it rains (plus also help drain the field) but can anyone else recommend or tell me what else I should consider? Most things I'm reading online mention pumps but as this pond has been there for 20 years plus, without pumps, I'm thinking that there must be something more simple that I need to start doing? Will dredging it (it's surrounded by trees and thick with leaf litter) kill or cure it, should I look to reinstate the edges or make it larger when the drainage is done?

I haven't seen any fish or other wildlife in the pond apart from wild ducks but it's brown so difficult to see but would love reintroduce fish or at least encourage them if possible.
Anyway, any advice would be welcome.
Cheers!

[chrismahon]

Not something I have ever done C_H, but I do know that rotting vegetation will result in oxygen depletion of the water so it won't sustain the life it needs to. First thing would be to pump it clear of all that and then cut back the trees. We have a pond here with goldfish and frogs in it. Apparently the goldfish eat the pond weeds and the frogs eat the mosquito larvae. But it is also dying because it has a large tree over it and too many decorative plants in it. I think a regular flow of water through it has got to help, something we don't get here because of long periods without rain meaning all ponds must be lined to retain the water and only get oxygenated from surface absorption.

[doganjo]

I had a pond dug a few years ago, but apart from putting in a few plants i haven't done much with it till now - the water seems fairly clear but muddies up when the dogs jump in.  It really needs dredging too. And once my Shetland ducks get out of their run I suspect it'll get worse.  Fence to keep dogs put has to be finished by No1 son first and he's busy just now.

What he did say though was that there was no point in getting fish as the ducks would eat them so i imagine your wild ones will do the same.

[greenbeast]

I had a pond dug a few years ago, but apart from putting in a few plants i haven't done much with it till now - the water seems fairly clear but muddies up when the dogs jump in.  It really needs dredging too. And once my Shetland ducks get out of their run I suspect it'll get worse.  Fence to keep dogs put has to be finished by No1 son first and he's busy just now.

What he did say though was that there was no point in getting fish as the ducks would eat them so i imagine your wild ones will do the same.

My parents had same issue with cows, had to electric fence it for a few years to let the banks consolidate with some greenery and roots to hold it together, takes a while for a new pond but it will get there.

RE: ducks eating fish, obviously it's all about numbers

[Marches Farmer]

If the pond level varies that much it may be like ours and fills according to where the water table level is.  Takes a very wet summer for it not to dry up.  When the level is low rake the gunk from the sides up onto the bank (don't cart it away for acouple of days as wildlife in the gunk will have a chance to return to the pond - makes good compost after that).  We had a pond regeneration project going around this area a couple of years ago and they recommended my neighbour reduce the tree cover around hers.  70% of the trees within 25 metres of the pond were felled and it's made a huge difference, not only to the level and quality of the water but also wild flowers have appeared in abundance on the banks.  Don't introduce fish if you want wildlife like dragonflies or newts, and discourage ducks, which churn up the bottom - we clap our hands every time the Mallards land on the pond in Spring and they take the hint. Toads, frogs, newts and all the rest will arrive by themselves.  Don't buy in any plants either - there are some real thugs that will take over the pond entirely.  Plants will also arrive by themselves.  A few sticks or poles will give dragonflies something to crawl up when they finish pupating.

[greenbeast]

We have a stagnant pond in the top north east corner of our woodland, really looking forward to opening the tree cover to hopefully see some life bloom in it over time

[Chicken_House]

Thanks for the messages and advice! Looking forward to this next new challenge and hopefully will manage to not kill everything while learning. 

[Cosmore]

A solution for a 'stagnant' pond where the water is 'soupy' with algae is to get from an aquarist (pet fish shop) a plastic bag of live Daphnia (so called fresh water fleas). Depending on the size of the pond, they will multiply and clear the algae turning the water clear in 2/3 weeks. Then you will be left with a source of live food for fish.
I've done that in the past, the Daphnia mulitplied so much the the water was clear of algae but 'soupy' with Daphnia, I introduced some fish which promptly cruised through the water stuffing themselves with Daphnia! Some Daphnia did survive as there were shallow parts with weed which the fish couldn't reach, which meant that the fish always had a few Daphnia to eat when the population increased and they ventured out of the 'safe zone'.