When we visited what would be our home for the first time, there were two massive holes in the garden. In a previous life, they had been Koi fish ponds but were sadly neglected. Months later, when we finally moved in, both ponds were filled with water but without a filtration system in place. They smelled really bad and were full of flies.


We of course thought ‘Oh no, What have we done?' But as difficult and overwhelming it was to give them a second, healthy life, we now think having a pond near the house was the most magical decision we could have taken.


The pond has got a 'mind' of its own, plants and small critters quickly 'appear' out of the blue with us having absolutely nothing to do with it. In Spring, it’s so refreshing to see the pond bursting with life and observe the quirks and growth of each little type of little bug it harbours (spoil alert: water boatmen will tell you a funny, yet devastating tale of life, love and death!). It’s also so comforting to see the raindrops falling in the water through the window and the movement of light and shadow the pond water casts onto our ceiling when the sun is still low in the sky.

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know?"
We now know our Summers would never be the same without our much loved dragonflies' assertive presence. Last year, we counted 11 different species of dragonflies. Even in this suburban backyard pond, they take their maiden flight, sometimes dozens at a time, while we stroll along the pond edges drinking our morning cup of tea or coffee. 'Truly magical'.



The pond plants were a bit of trial and error. Because we only use rainwater, we have a fluctuating water level throughout the year and anything planted in the pond has to deal with this. We favoured plants that could survive both extremes, waterlogged during Winter and the rainy months, and drought-tolerant during our increasingly hot and dry Summers. We can happily say that most of the plants we added seem completely unfazed and continue to thrive albeit slowly, even during the summer drought of 2022 here in London.
The huge difference in depth throughout the pond (from soil level to 160cm) favours plant and aquatic life diversity and because of the varying water level the many self-sown plants will move around, creating their own shapes and combinations, every year differently.



Over the years we’ve had many visitors, including herons, which look like giants landing on our garden fence (probably coming from or going to the wetland reserve nearby.) Birds, bees, foxes (and our cats Ziggy and Yoko) drink water and refresh themselves in the pond. Frogs complete their lifecycle in it. Each evening, at dusk, we also love to see the bats flying around.


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