The making of a tiny pond

 It's the must have accessory of the year, a tiny pond. Even the BBC  say so. 

Make a tiny pond even if you only have a tiny garden. You can do it in a weekend at minimal cost. I’ve been reliably informed that it takes about a year for frogs to move in, and that adding tadpoles is not a good idea. So now we wait.

Here’s what I bought:

Bucket £1.50 (Screwfix)I bought a black 14L builders bucket. You can get them anywhere, even Amazon.

Solar pump (optional)  £12.99 (Amazon) There are various types with various power at various prices, but this is the one I bought.

Tiny ramp £7.71 (You could make your own, this one was from Amazon)

Pond plants £13 for two – local aquatic specialist.The two I chose were Red Stemmed Parrot Feather, and Barred Horsetail.

Total £35 ish

 You’ll also need – a tool to dig a hole.

 

I dug a hole the size of the bucket. This is surprisingly hard work because you can’t really use a big spade unless you make the hole wider and back-fill it. I wanted to have the pond in the lawn and keep the lawn around it so I just used a trowel to make the hole the right size, depth, and shape. 

I used a hot skewer to remove the bucket handle, buckets vary so you might be lucky and have one where the handle just pops out. I didn’t.

Popped the bucket in the hole.

I washed some gravel (I had some that I use for potting up plants) it was very dusty and took a lot of rinsing! Then added an inch or so as a layer at the bottom of the pond. No idea if this is essential I just felt it would give a natural bottom.

I added an upturned flower pot as a raised area for a plant. You could also use a brick.

I added the ramp which also doubled as a place to fix the pond pump. The pump had a filter made of sponge but the holes in it were huge, so I cut a finer sponge and popped that in as a filter instead. Trial and error with fountain heads led me to go with no sprinkle attachment at all, just a bubbling bit of water. Still moves the water and seems more natural. But it’s just preference.

I added two pond plants one for the base of the pond, a true underwater plant, and one for the top of the flower pot, an edge plant. I chose Red Stemmed Parrot Feather, and Barred Horsetail.  but there are lots to choose from.

I didn’t have rain water to fill the pond, but the watering cans in the garden were standing around for weeks so the water wasn’t fresh from the tap. I filled the pond, adjusted everything a bit, added a rock to weight down the ramp at one end, and switched on the pump and left it to it. The water cleared after a few hours. I have added some bits and bobs around the edge. You can buy fancy rocks if that’s your thing. The plants have shown growth after only a week!

 

Total time – one morning. Total cost - £35 ish. Value to nature - priceless 

 

Inspired by Tiktok 

 

 

@plant_daddyuk Exciting mini wildlife pond update We have new life! #wildlife #wildlifepond #pond #minipond #nature #biodiversity #frog #tadpoles #garden #gardening #gardentok #life #newlife ♬ sonido original - DiegoVegaSoria

One misty, moisty morning

Woke early again today, darn time zones, even DD was awake by 6am, so we were up, showered, packed and ready to go before 8am.

Nowhere for breakfast so we set off coffee-less along the highway to see the elephant seals. There was some mist over the sea, it was early, we were almost alone with the seals, just a litter picking guy in the car park ...

We watched their amazing wobbling wallows up the beach, their grunts and bellows, their play fighting (they were mostly juveniles) and the occasional swim. DD said it was the best bit of the trip so far, we hung around for a while just watching, videoing and being amused by the seals. We then carried on driving, looking for a cafe

We were not disappointed as we discovered a lovely coffee shop, gas station and mini mart at Ragged Point, the coffee shop guy was really friendly, we had apple pie (and DAMN it was fine pie) for breakfast. Then we used the restroom and bought some snacks and on we went.

The highway along the coast is gorgeous, nice to drive, almost empty. Our views were sometimes obscured by the mist rolling in, but even that was beautiful. Sadly some of the larger bridges were totally in mist.

We saw buzzards and loads of turkey vultures too, dd was nervous they would eat us!

We took the top down on the car again, despite the mist making it cool, and despite, my *ahem* sun kissed arm, we drove for over an hour with the top down and heater on! Haha

Long story short....we made it to San Francisco.

Being a party pooper, balloons

I sometimes see things about organising a 'balloon release' and my heart sinks. Like everyone else I think the sight of hundreds of balloons soaring up into a blue sky is a beautiful thing, trailing tags with notes of love to heaven, what a gorgeous idea...but balloons come down, and when they do they kill things, lots of things.

They fall into rivers, get snarled in trees, drift to the sea, and wildlife get's caught up or eats the burst skins of the balloons (particualrly turtles that naturally eat jellyfish drifting in the sea)

You wouldn't organise a mass litter. Please don't organise a balloon release.(Ditto 'sky lanterns')  Maybe you need more convincing, if so here are some links. I'd appreciate it if you spread the word.

 

Marine Conservation Society

Balloons Blow

And if I've convinced you to change your mind. Here are some other things you could do that would not harm our planet.

I especially like this idea 

"Floating flowers- For a lot of people, the gently upward drifting of balloons gives them a sense of letting go, and at the same time thinking the balloon will eventually reach their loved one. Because remembering a loved one by potentially killing another life isn’t exactly the best feeling, there are many alternatives. Floating flowers or flower petals down a calm stream can give you the same sense of letting go. You will be able to be in nature and feel the energy of your loved one and all the life that surrounds you! Be sure to use non-poisonous flowers and not to let go an excessive amount."

We only have one chance, let's not screw it up - I want a beautiful planet for future generations. I hope you do too.

All Pictures Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Tits, never around when you want to photograph them

I was asked to review a bird feeder from Presents for Men. Luckily my other half, the lovely Mr TM is quite keen on bird watching, we have a garden full of  feeders of various types and shapes. One of the reasons we have so many is that we have a resident grey squirrel (or two) and these are ninja squirrels, they have eaten through metal, they have broken entire feeders by gnawing through branches so the feeders fell, they are,  in short, pains in the arse.

The new feeder that Mr TM was excited to receive is a new type to us, it fixes via a suction cup to any window, so that you can watch the birds from the warmth of your own conservatory or kitchen etc. It's a Swedish design and looks very stylish.

Mr TM duly attached the feeder to the kitchen window. He was happy to report that it fixed easily and firmly to the glass. The view from the kitchen was perfect, a lovely clear globe of bright seeds, I was tempted myself! But the tits (and all other garden birds) were unimpressed. Maybe they thought the movement in the kitchen (and therefore near the feeder) was too close for comfort? Who knows, but they ignored the glamorous new feeder. Not so the ninja squirrel who spend a fun afternoon trying to first scale the kitchen wall upwards toward the nutty prize and later kamikaze style leaps from the extension roof in an attempt to dislodge the feeder entirely.

Mr TM gave up with the kitchen window and moved the feeder to the front of the house, away form the evil squirrels. Sadly the birds have not (yet) been attracted to it there either. So while I can vouch for the fact that it is well made, attached firmly and safely to a window and looks lovely both inside and out, I can unfortunately not vouch for the birds using it.

We wait hopefully. For tits.

• Looks 10/10 
• Value For money 8/10 
• Usability/Usefulness 8/10 
• Fun 7/10