These pictures illustrate various stages in the construction of a semi-formal wildlife-friendly pond in my garden. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
Here is the pond and path 9 months or so after its construction. You can also see the young hedge plated around the outside of the path. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
This picture shows the polyfibrelay pond underlay going into the pond hole. You can also see, in places, the loft insulation that I used as cushioning between the soil and the underlay. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
This picture shows the polyplastic pond liner spread out over the lawn (to warm up) before being put into the pond hole. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
This picture shows the hole excavated for the pond. You can clearly see the planting shelves and the slight outward slope of the sides. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
This picture shows the hole excavated for the pond from the bottom end. The foreground shows where the hole had to be built up to accommodate the slope in the garden. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
This is how the pond edge looked around nine months after the pond was constructed. The planting in the narrow border is beginning to soften the edge of the pond and path. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
Here you can see how the level of the ground immediately below the pond was raised by rolling back the grass, adding topsoil and then replacing the turves. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
Detail of the pond-side slate-chip path construction. A very narrow (5cm) border between path and pond facilitates the softening of the path and pond edges. Follow this link for the full feature article: Creating a wildlife-friendly pond.
