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Make a Wild Pond

Wild ponds, however small, can support a huge range of creatures – from frogs and toads to dragonflies and bees. We don’t tend to make a link between loss of natural ponds and insects, but the drainage and disappearance of wild wetlands, streams and other water features has had a direct impact on the decline of bees, dragonflies and other insects, as well as birds, bats and other small mammals. Bees, in particular, use ponds in four ways: if it’s shallow enough, or has floating plants, a pond is an essential source of drinking water for bees; flowering pond and bog plants, such as lilies, water forget-me-not and water mint, provide much-needed food for foraging bees; the sandy banks that surround ponds and rivers are often used as bee burrows; and reeds, which grow in wet ground and alongside the edges of ponds, also provide vital nesting sites. Wild About Gardens has a fantastic introduction to making a wild pond, ‘Big or small, ponds for all’, which is free to download (see Directory, p. 125).