Our New Pond

For the past few weeks I have been slowly converting the formal koi pond (a wildlife deathtrap), that came with the house, into something more nature friendly.

I have kept the original external shape which had been made up with railway sleepers. These had given us a nice alternative seating area and we liked that. I reused the old seating planks to form the new pond (see extra). 

I did lower the level of the pond to ground level giving us what looks like a sunken garden and pond.

The pond now has a curve to its shape and slopes towards the back where a beach effect and overflow point is found. Behind that is a fern/woodland bed that leads up and out of the pond giving wildlife an exit route from the water and the sunken garden.

Planting will take time but between the aquatic plants and those in the beds the edges will soften in time. I even managed to refill the pond using water collected in our huge water-butt. 

The extra shows 'before and during the work'.