How-To Make a Wildlife Pond out of an old bath

You will need:

  • An old Bath - preferably not metal
  • A Spade & Fork
  • 2 & 6 foot length of Wood and Spirit level
  • Some Flashing Tape, wirewool/sandpaper and Silicon
  • Old Bricks and Rubble/Large Stones
  • A Site - mostly sunny, mostly level, not under trees, next to a over-run corner/edge, preferably near a wildlife corridor*

    * though you could create your own

    1,  Preperations

    Remove all fittings from the bath - or as many as possible. Taps, plug hole grill, overflow hole grill, feet, handles.

    2,  Measuring Up

    Lug Bath to site. Turn upside down and mark an outline 6" to a foot wider than the bath. Then upright the bath and move to one side.

    3, The Dig

    Now dig a hole to the depth of the bath - sloping in towards the bottom by 6" to a foot. Remove the topsoil first - this is the top 6-10 inches. Make this into one pile. Make the rest of the dig into another pile. Place any stones, rocks or boulders encountered into a third pile.

    .4, Offering Up

    Flatten an area about the size of the bath at the bottom of the hole - stomp it down well. Lay a long piece of wood and a spirit level across the bottom to attain flatness - do this in several directions. With care place the bath in the hole. Check the edges of the bath are at or just below ground level. Check the bath does not wobble. Place the wood across the rim of the bath in various directions and check again with the spirit level. Adjust the soil at the bottom of the hole to compensate for any inaccuracies.

    5, Making Water Tight.

    Clean the area around any holes in the bath and dry. Then use coarse wire wool or sandpaper to abrade the area around the holes - this is the area where the flashing tape will contact. For the smaller holes make squares of flashing tape. Stick over the holes with an overlap of at least an inch. Ensure the tape is pushed on firmly especially at it's edges. Then apply a bead of silicon along the edge of the tape - doesn't have to be neat and better too much than too little. Leave for 24 hours in dry weather. For bigger holes over lap two strips of tape and push down on a flat surface to get a tight fit - then apply to the hole pushing tightly especially at the edges of the tape - again overlap by an inch or two of the hole. Apply silicon to the edges and where the tape over laps. Leave for 24 hours.

     

    6, In Fill - after tape and Silicon has dried for at least 24 hours.

    Using a mixture of small stones and subsoil fill the edges - tamping down as you go to ensure a tight fit between the hole walls and the bath. About half way up start using top soil instead of subsoil. Six inches from the top create a layer of  large stones and rocks all around. This is to prevent burrowing creatures using any space you missed as home - thinking mainly rats here. Fill the rest up with topsoil to ground level. If the bath is slightly below ground level just fill up to the bath level and tamp down.

     

    7, Make the Slope.

    Ponds need to be a certain depth to avoid freezing over fully during winter. This allows plants and bugs to survive at the bottom. The pond also needs a gentle slope to allow wildlife to access and exit the water. To accommodate both it is necessary to cheat a little. Build a layer of bricks with gaps between about half way along the bath. Place more bricks on top until 1/3 to 1/2 way up the bath. Now place rocks and subsoil to form a slope up to one end of the bath. Decrease the size of rock and increase the amount of  subsoil towards the surface. Aim for a slope surface with more rocks than soil. Using subsoil is essential as it is deficient in nutrients and less likely to cause algal blooms in the finished pond. Add some subsoil and rocks to the flat part of the bath.

    8, Finishing the look

    9, Filling with water

    If possible fill the pond with saved rainwater - though it is not likely you will have this much saved water. Otherwise use a hose to fill the pond - tap water is full of nutrients that are a problem to ponds/pondlife. You will get the obligatory algal bloom. To mitigate this make sure the hose splashes on a surface to aerate the water as much as possible, when first filling point the hose at a pot temporarily placed in the bottom to prevent stirring up the soil, leave to stand for several days before doing anything else. You will probably have to top a couple of times as the rocks, bricks, and soil absorbs the water fully.
    Expect water evaporation to take a fair toll on water level in the summer - I have previously seen 6 inches plus depth disappear in a day... then emptied the pond looking for a leak... there never was...

    10, Filling with plants

    As this is a natural pond try to stick with native plants. There are 4 types of plants you are looking for floaters, oxyengenators; Emergents and Marginals. Local/friends ponds and plant shops are a good source of plants.
    Recommendedi
    Emergents - Soft Rush, Lesser Spearwort
    Floaters - Fringed Water Lily, duckweed, frogbit
    Marginals - Brooklime, WaterMint
    Oxygenators - Curly Pondweed, Hornwort, water milfoil

    The most important to have is the Oxygenators and floaters - the former keeps the oxygen levels up and the later keeps the pond cool in summer. Having said all that see whats available and what happens - I have a yellow flag Iris growing quite happily. Also place grasses and other plants around the edges with the idea of providing shelter for frogs etc - But do not prevent access to the pond.

    10, Filling with Life

    Assuming all the above has been done this should pretty much happen by itself with time. However a recommendation to kick start the process is to add a bucketful of sludge from an established pond into your new pond. It'll be full of life to start yours going. Also around early spring try annoying your friends & contacts with ponds to get a jam jar of frogsspawn to establish a frog colony - hopefully. Fish are a no-no as they will eat all the wildlife - especially goldfish. If you must then perhaps try sticklebacks instead.

    ...Everything else...

  • A good book to read is "Wildlife Ponds" by Jenny Steel
  • Other useful sources are the BTCV websites and centres.
  • Add a nearby decompossing log pile to enrich the diversity and add refuge
  • Check for leaves during autumn and winter - remove as many as you spot. They can cause problems with the ponds chemistry as they decay.
  • When iced over use a hot pan of water rested on the ice to melt a hole regularly. Do Not Smash the Ice!!
  • Remember this is a hard bottomed native nature pond so take other pond owners advise graciously but in context - this ain't a Koi farm!

    .... I'll add more as it comes to me ... :) and some photos too ... any other questions

    Photos April 2006 - Pond is a bit dormant





    Photos May 2006 - Pond is ALIVE :)