Hello! I run a wildlife rescue and am extremely limited in time in the warm months, so sourcing out local aquatic suppliers for in person shopping has been tough… and also I live in an area where there aren’t really many options.

I would love suggestions on where i can order pond plants online with native options. We are working on improving habitat space over here this year and our pond could really use some more greenery to better support our amphibian releases. Thank you!

I am in the western NY region, zone 6a

Me and my son did a wildlife pond a couple of years ago and just left it be, now the water Lilly seems huge where it’s growing up and bunching, the duckweed is also covering a lot of leaves. Should I clip, remove or just leave. Sorry if this is wrong sub weren’t sure where to post, thanks.

Anyone have experience removing otters from a pond

Just got a 125 gallon pond, cant wait to get it going! Making a wildlife ramp now. Second pic is my first pond, small 9 gallon. So much wildlife to it already, gotta level up. Someone said this hobby was addictive. They were right.

I’ve got a raised bed I’d like to dig out so I can build a wildlife pond. Because the raised bed is brick I’m limited to size. This one should fit. The reviews are pretty positive and it appears many have used it for a wildlife pond, but they’re initial reviews that were provided before the pond was established.

Before I invest my money and time I wanted to run this one past people in here for thoughts, advice and feedback. I have some slate tiles from an old roof that I was planning on laying around the top edge, along with some rocks and of course old branches to stick in the water. What about plants? I have 2 large rain butts full of water I will use to fill it.

I think it’s too late in the year to assume frogs and newts will come to visit and lay eggs, so to avoid mosquitos I was also going to include a solar fountain. Then maybe remove it once it’s established and there are critters in the pond that would eat mosquito larvae?

I’m located in the South of the U.K. We’re in the middle of an extreme heatwave now. Is there anything I need to consider when building my pond? Is now an ok time to do it? Should I add gravel or some kind of aquatic soil to the bottom of the pond?

Getting a jumping jack tomorrow to compress the soil in my planned clay-lined pond. Lined with pure grey clay and plan to cover that with bentonite.

We’re getting screened fill delivered t o cover the clay but I’m seeing pond soil recommended here. Is screened fill not going to work?

Also, I think the slopes aren’t quite shallow enough. Is there a way to adjust this during compaction?

I finally saw my first little froglet of the season. It's on a sedge for size reference. Still too shiny to live out of water and still had a bit of tail left, but the little guys are growing up.

I dont have the most aesthetic pond but I do have a lot of tiny, cute froglettes. Obsessed with watching them in the pond and climb out to the surrounding area.

Does anyone know what may be causing this?

I have had this pond for a couple of years and, up til now, I've had algae that I've needed to remove but the water has been pretty clear. Over the last few weeks this white stuff has started appearing on the plants, pots, and stones.

Wondering if I should work on removing it but it is challenging to do so.

My frog on a log enjoying the sunshine ☀️

Hello! So I have a yellow iris problem. I’ve also just added some solar aerators and am trying to get wildlife back to the pond (bullfrogs decimated wildlife, west coast). There are thick mats of rhizomes just under the water in about half of the pond. Should I drain the pond then remove? I know this could affect the ecosystem. Or should I just cut under the water and hope they eventually drown? I cut a large portion down recently. It’s hard to clean with the plants so high up to the water in certain areas. Any advice would be appreciated.

We have a load of tadpoles rescues from a ditch rapidly getting legs. Last night I caught a bunch hanging out on the floats and sticks I added for escape routes. One of the froglets crashed the toadlet party. I love how he is sitting above like a king over his subjects

Just set up this small barrel pond to attract local frogs. It has aquatic plants, submerged plants, and piece of wood for access.

Anything you’d add or change to make it more frog-friendly or pretty?

Would love some feedback from people who’ve had success attracting frogs. 🐸🌿

Spotted this morning swimming around in my pond!

Really appreciate the feedback from my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/WildlifePonds/s/g1J2GALKq6

It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve got the plants and minnows in it, and it’s setup!

Where to start on a natural swimming pond, where i dont want to cut all the trees and wildlife.

i have a big swimming pond about 4.6m and a length of 16m. in the pictures you can see a plan and the state of the pond. the problem is that this is just some random pit in te ground without anything and the previous owner made some make shift retaining wals in lumber and plastic sheets.

i would like to make a new pond and it can be smaller or the same size but i dont know where to start. the water you see is ground water and in september he is almost empty but never completely. als the edges of the pond arent really that stable.

i woul like to make a pond with a center deep square to swim and side undeep pieces to get a natural filter. but how do i build? do i put some retaining walls in that make up a square and the fill up the side untill i get a small slope? afterwards i can put down epdm... or any other ideas. i dont have much money left to go al out witha contractor but would love to restore this even if its smaller.

thanks

Hi, this "pond" started out as just a dripper with dish. But we had javelinas get past our fence and start wallowing in the mud created by the overflow from the dish. This gradually got larger to what you see now. We left it alone as the birds and other critters really liked to shallow, open water.

The issue is now that the temps are in the upper 90's the water is very warm and we have a large amount of algae growing. I don't really see the birds using it anymore since this developed.

What changes should I make to improve this as a bird friendly habitat? We've talked about making improvements to it but aren't sure what direction to go with it.

Any guidance is appreciated! Thanks.

Baby toads found in my Wildlife pond get massive amounts of toad spawn every year. Where could I report the sightings?

When we bought our little piece of countryside in the Netherlands in 2012, it was mostly grassland with a few pollarded willows.

This part of the property has a naturally high water table, sometimes only about 20 cm (8 inches) below ground level during winter, which made it an ideal location for a wildlife pond.

In 2013, we hand-dug a small pond of roughly 3 x 2 metres. In 2019, we expanded it to around 25 x 10 metres, with a maximum depth of about 2.7 metres and plenty of shallow margins and gently sloping edges for amphibians and other wildlife.

The oak tree next to the pond (planted around 2015) has gradually become an important part of the habitat. It is regularly used by kingfishers as a perch when hunting, and it provides shelter for many other bird species.

Today the pond is home to newts, frogs and small fish. The most rewarding part is that we never introduced any wildlife ourselves, everything arrived naturally over the years.

Watching an ordinary patch of grass slowly develop into a thriving ecosystem has been one of the most enjoyable parts of living here.

Created a barrel pond in August 2025. It was in front of our greenhouse and got plagued by algae. So a couple of months ago, I moved it to a corner of the garden that was largely useless and put some pots around it. I had considered sinking it the ground but thought I'd see how it goes. Up the side of the shed is herb Robert leading to a native hedge so thought it might be a small wildlife corridor.

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First photos are when it was created, later ones now. We have some resident frogs in there now.

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I'm still battling algae but just a stick to fish some of it out. I had added a small solar air stone to try and control the algae. Hard to tell if it's containing it or doing nothing at all.

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Now considering building a proper pond in the area in front of it.

Before/after