91Èȱ¬

I have never seen a square pond, shouldn't it be a random shape?

Andy from Hardwicke should spend more time doing his work rather than messing about with water, it all smells a little marshy to me!

I don't want to be too hard on Andy,he has dug out a pond, but a bit of a softening in the shape would have been good. Square and rectangular ponds are best in a formal setting.As it is, you should try to create shape around the pond,so vary the level of the surrounds,particularly around the waterfal. Rethink your turf too, the turf over the liner will dry out and die,whilst the tail of grass below the cascade will work as a drinking straw and take water out of the pond.
So step one cut back and reshape the turf,bury some of your liner,or anchor with rocks or slabs.Raise the soil in places and soften the surround with one or two plants.
Congratulations on deciding to have a pond !

It's a good start. What it needs next is a few fish, and a nice gnome with a fishing rod, possibly sat on a toadstool.

I've tried to resist responding to this, but that's not a pond. It's a square hole in the lawn filled with water. I've seen more attractive puddles.

Ahhhh.... OK; so some major aesthetic problems, me thinks, with Andy's pond. Positioning is hardly great either; the general look tends to remind me of a large flooded pothole and a more natural shape would have been a better solution. The margins look far to deep to readily facilitate wildlife access; the cascade is rather akin to an irrigation system in Chad. But hey, it's a start. Ian Fergusson, Mark's Co-Chair, Dept. of Applied Pondology, 91Èȱ¬ Gloucestershire.

Ah. I am so proud that my little pond has created so much debate. I thought I would answer each comment in turn:

Pond Life - I don't think there are any rules set down in the 1983 Charlie Dimock’s Pond Act that defines that a Pond should be any specific shape. Dictionary.com defines a pond as "a body of water smaller than a lake, sometimes artificially formed, as by damming a stream." I think my Pond does meet this criteria. My pond has become my little hobby and I spend all of my spare time looking at the little mini beasts and amphibians that now live there. Yes, I do need to get out more.

Chris Evans - Thanks Chris. Really good constructive comments which I will definitely take note of. I will try and do this one evening this week and send some photos to Mark. I have hundreds of Frog Tadpoles in their now and have just purchased some Smooth Newt "eggs" from a licensed distributor.

Nigel - Fish are bad for wildlife ponds as their waste can cause issues, which would mean I may need a filter. The tadpoles get stuck in the filter and end up looking a bit anaemic, go blind and then need special glasses to see. Not good. I think the gnome and toadstool might be a bit "twee" but I'll bare it in mind.

Mike Lowe - Chief Writing bloke - What can I say? How about. 3 out of 10. You should have really tried harder to resist a little more? It's not a lawn, it's an acre field and in this instance I don't really think that size matters (contrary to what my wife says). We need to be careful that were don't stereotype; for example saying that someone with such a strong northern accent shouldn't be the Editor of a West Country magazine. That would be just so wrong to say that - much like saying my pond is like a puddle is wrong....I won't sleep tonight now.

Ian Fergusson - Weather King. I take note of the margins however the positioning is hopping distance from the polytunnel in a frog-a-dub stylee, which is what made me put the pond there. I think you should look closer to home before throwing glass badgers at people who live in stones made of houses. You said it was going to be 40 degrees in Hardwicke today when in fact it rained, then snowed then there was a big hurricane followed by a plague of locusts - I think I saw a bit of the The Black Death as well...is that weather?

Ah, it's a Wildlife pond... in that case I'll concede that the gnome might be a little out of place. The original picture didn't give it a lot of context (I too thought it was in the middle of your lawn).

Your pond does look a lot better now the liner's all covered up and your water feature's been extended a bit.

Personally I quite like it now. Good work. :-)

What's the problem with Gnomes - they soon allow algae to grow on them