Ponds!

I believe there are only two types of ponds, ones which are good for wildlife and ones what are not so good. The fact is if you add a pond or water feature to your garden you will attract wildlife, but how wildlife friendly is it really? Adding a pond will attract frogs, toads, dragonflies etc, and small animal and birds will come to drink, in turn attracting larger animals and birds into your garden.

However if you decide to create a pond in your garden you will have to think about the final look and how and where it would go. Adding steep slops or just having one depth to your pond will limit access for wildlife, Having a pump and filter makes the pond look pretty and clean but it will remove algae which is food for small pond life, a common mistake is adding fish and think that this makes your pond a wildlife pond, in fact it will make it less so, because fish will eat algae, insects, frogspawn, and other small pond life. But if you want a large pretty clean pond with fish and a big water feature pump, why not build a small wildlife pond next to it.

This could be easily designed into your garden and with a few tall grasses, rocks, and some shingle around the boarders of the ponds. The different colours and shapes set off against the movement and sounds of the water pump and wildlife enjoying your pond will give a really spectacular look.