We’ve been spending time with family over Easter, the Grandparents, my sister and her family. We visited the attractions (along with everyone else on Easter Hols), undertook Easter Egg hunts ad infinitum,  and generally dodged the showers and ate too much chocolate. We enjoyed a sunny day out at Camel Creek Adventure Park, spent a wet day at Eden and saw chicks hatching on Easter Sunday at Heligan. See our Easter Heligan pics. Plus a visit to Lanhydrock to catch up with old friends.

Spring is upon us and we are in full ‘spring sorting’ mode. I’m not sure why we embarked on the pond today; it’s an idea I’ve had for ages, and somehow we ended up digging a hole and getting on with it, despite having other plans.

Eldest is always keen to see frogs in the garden. He knows they need damp places, so his way of tempting them into the garden is to empty the contents of the water butt all over the lawn. (Lawn might be a misleading term; more accurately – mossy grassed area). And so our pond has been constructed to be the ultimate froggy des res, whilst saving the ‘lawn’.

We referred to Dawn Isaac’s 101 Things for Kids to do Outdoors and started with a large plastic container (45l). It’s a suitable size for frogs and newts, but fish need something a bit deeper.

It was bedded in with slate and stones to hide the edge. Beside the pond we added piles of stones and dry garden waste to attract the insects. No, not the ubiquitous ‘Bug hotel’,  ours is, according to Eldest, a Frog Restaurant. Complete with squashed snail which he delivered proudly, assuring me he had no idea how the squashing had occurred.

Now immersed in the project, we set off in search of pond plants and returned with a Yellow Flag iris and some Striped Pennywort. With the plants safely positioned with bricks and stones in the base we filled the pond, ensuring easy access in and (most importantly) out for our wildlife friends. We might upgrade this a bit tomorrow and make some more shallow areas for the pitter patter of tiny tadpoles as they like to be in the shallows.

We filled it with rainwater from the water butt. If you use tap water, leave it to stand for 24 hours or so so the chorine can evaporate off.

Our first visitor! Disturbed by all the digging no doubt.

And now we wait. Moving frogs or frogspawn from one pond to another is really not the done thing, it can spread disease, or the frogs and spawn can die if they don’t take to the new environment.

Youngest observed most of the action today from the trampoline. She did wander over to ‘see the frog,’ when it was finished. I’ll keep you posted!