70007
26th June 2008, 11:41 AM
Some of you may know that i dug myself a pond in the back garden last August Bank Holiday, and made it look quite nice with some edging stones, a few water and marginal plants.
All was peaceful and lovely through the spring and I even saw a frog.
However, that was until the mammals moved in. Squirrels developed a habit of dragging my peanut/seed feeders off their hooks and then rolling them around the garden until the contents fell out. Sadly, the feeders rolled into the pond before they had emptied.
I wondered where they were disappearing to, and when a mass of stinking bubbles appeared on the surface in the warm weather, I took to dredging the bottom of the pond and found them - rotting away slowly.
I bet there are hundreds of folk out there who would love to see badgers in their back garden, waddling around after sunset looking for food?
But, they seem to think that their best chance of finding worms is under the sides of the pond, so they are now excavating under the liner, causing the sides to collapse, tipping great quantities of soil into the water along with all my artistically placed pieces of stone surround.
So, before you consider creating your own watery wildlife haven as shown on twee tv 'gardening' shows, just ponder the worst nightmare that could possibly happen to it - because, in time, it probably will.
All was peaceful and lovely through the spring and I even saw a frog.
However, that was until the mammals moved in. Squirrels developed a habit of dragging my peanut/seed feeders off their hooks and then rolling them around the garden until the contents fell out. Sadly, the feeders rolled into the pond before they had emptied.
I wondered where they were disappearing to, and when a mass of stinking bubbles appeared on the surface in the warm weather, I took to dredging the bottom of the pond and found them - rotting away slowly.
I bet there are hundreds of folk out there who would love to see badgers in their back garden, waddling around after sunset looking for food?
But, they seem to think that their best chance of finding worms is under the sides of the pond, so they are now excavating under the liner, causing the sides to collapse, tipping great quantities of soil into the water along with all my artistically placed pieces of stone surround.
So, before you consider creating your own watery wildlife haven as shown on twee tv 'gardening' shows, just ponder the worst nightmare that could possibly happen to it - because, in time, it probably will.