Autumn & Winter in the wildlife pond

Autumn in the wildlife pond

Create spaces in Autumn for the pond wildlife to feel safe:

• A loose heap of leaves is an ideal place for amphibians to over winter.
• Collect a heap of Autumn leaves in a wire mesh so leaves do not blow back into the pond water.
• Use a pond net to cover the whole water area so no leaves fall in but take care not to trap frogs and hedgehogs in it.
• Provide log piles and homes for amphibians near the pond so many creatures have safe places to hide & overwinter.

Remove surplus horizontally growing plants from the pond but check that you have not also removed wildlife creatures.

• Dragonfly larvae spend several years under the water before emerging as adults and these larvae easily become removed from the water when you are removing plant growth.
• Late hatchings of newts can stay in the pond over winter and can be hard to see at 1/2″ long.
• Backswimmers or Greater Water Boatmen will also become trapped if you collect armfuls or netfuls of plants in a mass.
• Shake the plants you are removing over the pond to free the creatures.
• Leaving the plants on the side of the pond is not sufficient if you have twisted the plants or blanketweed into a ball or tight clump.
• Unravel, open out and shake over the water.

Your nearby moist or muddy bog plants are important in Autumn too:

• Leave low growing leaf growth on plants as protection and hiding places.
• Good plants to shelter overwintering wildlife are: Caltha palustris Geum rivale Lychnis flos-cuculi Mentha aquatiMentha aquatica  Primula beesiana Primula veris Veronica beccabunga
• Don't clear up the ground under nearby plants as wildlife will nestle into dead leaf and twigs

Maintain oxygen levels in the pond  in Winter:

• Leave oxygenating plants in the pond.
• Do not thin out before Winter as the better oxygenated the wildlife pond is in Winter the better it is for any wildlife that stays in the water.
• Thin out oxygenating plants in Spring.
• Clear any fallen snow from the ice so that submerged oxygenating plants can see light and be able to photosynthesize and produce oxygen.
• Leave  a pump running over the winter as pushing the water back to the pond will help pump oxygen into the water.
• Reduce the likelihood of animal  'winterkill' by maintaining good oxygen levels in the pond.

Frogs & newts may lie dormant at the bottom of a pond in winter.

• In very icy winters frogs can die of 'winterkill'.
• Winterkill occurs when toxic gases are released into the pond water through decomposition of dead leaves without sufficient oxygen to complete the process.
• The water becomes deoxygenated in darkness ie under a blanket of snow across the pond surface.
• Submerged oxygenating weed will not photosynthesize in the dark.
• This lack of oxygen leads to a build up of toxic gases in the water.
• Seeing the frogs on the water surface in the thaw can be upsetting to pond-owners.
• By preparing the pond as carefully as possible in Autumn you will be doing your best to give all wildlife creatures the best conditions you can to overwinter successfully.