We’re certainly a family that likes water features. In fact, the first project we undertook after moving in was to build a raised fishpond from new railway sleepers. Tony is currently halfway through building a small formal pond and rill but we also inherited two ponds which are the bane of our lives.
Both ponds are surrounded by high chain link wire fencing which forms the duck enclosure. The smaller pond is about 7ft x 12ft, made from concrete sunk into the ground with a black pond liner and this was the one I first tackled after we’d been here a few weeks. The previous owner kept ducks and we’d brought our little flock with us. There were no pumps and, despite the presence of a useful looking fuse box cabinet, no power to install them either since the plug sockets it contained were both dead. We’ve no natural running water up here on top of the hill either.
Both ponds were a horrendous stinky mass of duck poo, rotting leaves and brackish water. I spent the best part of two weeks shovelling the muck from the smaller one before Tony put in a new liner and we refilled the thing. It looked ok when we’d finished … for at least a couple of days!
The second, larger pond was too big for me to tackle and will be one of our big projects next year, all being well. Again, it’s a concrete lined pond but very shallow, with several overhanging trees above, mainly sycamore, which shed their huge leaves into the water every autumn.
In spring the pond consists of stinky dark brown mud that you can throw stones into with a satisfying plop. In summer it either dries into a pale brown cracked surface that the ducks can walk on or becomes fluourescent lime and looks highly toxic, although it’s never harmed the ducks. In autumn it goes black with rotting leaves. In winter it freezes but not in an attractive way that makes you wish it was big enough to skate on. Honestly, there’s no season when it looks good, so we think we’re going to get rid of it next year. Quite how we’re going to go about this remains the subject of many an intense discussion.
Sadly, something got into the duck enclosure recently – I suspect it was a mink because I have seen them a couple of times now and the local gamekeeper confirmed that he’s seen them too – and we now only have four ducks left.
Foxglove Farm 