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During March, I started digging out a wildlife pond. Upon seeing it, the mayor insisted that I get it started by putting in some tadpoles from the village pond. I also put some pond water in from the Lac du Salagu as this is teeming with microbes and water fleas. While this kick-started its ecology, it wasn’t particularly necessary as wildlife has a knack of finding water. This has been borne out as during the intervening weeks, a toad has taken up residence and the water is alive with organisms; water boatmen, whirligig beetles, pond skaters and water snails. In the past week, dragonflies have appeared.
Now in mid June, the tadpoles have metamorphosed into tiny frogs barely the size of my thumbnail.
All in all, a success, I think.
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A bit different to bike riding.
.-= ´s last blog ..[iran] how much is rafsanjani a factor =-.
Very nice, I have forwarded this around southern Minnesota, thank you.
A question please, L, how’d you line it?
I used the stuff you get on a roll in garden centres. I think it’s butyl. The hole was first lined with sand.
Roger that, LR, my friend John in lower North Mankato uses this sheeting — and, HIS frogs are just a block from Spring Lake Park, where they can bugger off to hibernate. Mankato is at the southernmost bend of the Minnesota River, and I am thity-odd miles away on the upland divide between this watershed and the Des Moines River basin. Our runoff and small rivers all make Mankato eventually. Up here, the frogs are variable yearly, it has a lot to do with the current farm chemicals of “choice” I suspect, and the other difficulty is that we have a molded vinyl tub — so, Grampa has spoon out the Little Bastards and hie them to a nearby slough, in the Fall. As to water bugs, not a chance with all the spray drift. But the mosquitos are true studies in acquired resistance and our goldfish feed handsomely on the larva. No deformities as yet among the piscatorial folk. As to frogs (and hop toads) lots of the former last year, and anyway a few toads. No frogs this season, and only a couple of toads I uncovered in the asparagus mulch, in April….
The trick is to build the pond with a gentle gradient so that small animals can get in and out easily.
I believe it…this preformed vinyl tub we are using has ledges (we immerse pots with lotuses on them when in use), so in the Fall when I bale the thing out and we haul the fish indoors, why, I’ll just wait overnight and see if the little frog brain geniuses don’t just hop on out of there, first crack out of the box all on their own. After all, they’re NOT as dumb as I LOOK!