Our Pond
the heart of Eden Nature Garden
About our Pond
We see a functioning and healthy pond as the epicentre and the beating heart of any wildlife garden. In our garden, a working pond, gives life to hundreds of Common Frogs; innumerable aquatic insects; provides drinking water to birds and a cool and damp edge for honeybees and visiting wild insects. A functioning and aesthetic pond ensures we have a meeting point and a place for outdoor education.
Our pond was built with volunteers 15+ years ago and the frog numbers have always been good. In 2022 we re-lined (liner compromised and possible leak), dug out (the pond was almost full of leaf litter, silt/sediment etc) and replanted the pond with a new range of flora (it had become an Iris pseudacorus monoculture), as well as adding more damp, terrestrial habitat around the area so when the frogs are out of water, they have loads of places to reside, feed and overwinter.
Guidelines for visiting the pond
•All children must be accompanied by an adult
•Please do not enter the water
•Please do not remove/move frogspawn or frogs from where you find them. You may spread disease and/or put the frogs into an unfavourable location
•Please respect the wildlife and plant life at all times
•Please neither remove anything from the pond (floating wood, for example) nor add anything to it. Many aquatic insects rely on floating material to live in
A Year in the Life of a Frog
Spring
Adult frogs emerge from their overwintering sites in early spring and head straight to a pond to breed; frogs reach breeding age at 2-3 years old. Clumps of spawn (eggs) are laid in ponds anytime from January onwards. Depending on local weather conditions, two to four weeks later tadpoles will hatch out. They feed on algae and water fleas. After around 16 weeks the tadpoles start to grow back legs, followed by front legs.
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Summer
When tadpoles have fully absorbed their tails, they leave the water as tiny froglets, usually in early summer but sometimes as late as September. . Adult frogs may be seen around ponds or in damp areas of the garden as they attempt to cool off in the hot weather.
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Autumn
Adults and tiny new froglets spend autumn preparing for hibernation. They feed on insects, slugs and worms.
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Winter
Common Frogs spend the winter sheltering under rocks, in compost heaps or at the bottom of ponds. They don’t hibernate as such, and may take advantage of milder patches of weather to come out and forage.
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Plants we have at our pond
We have planted Brooklime, Water Mint, Creeping Jenny, Lesser Spearwort on the fringes of the pond and these will "trail" into the water.
We have planted Hornwort and Willow Moss into the water loose (as oxygenators).
We have sunk Lesser Bullrush and Amphibious Bistort, in aquatic baskets, into the pond, as well as planting a Fringe Lily as a possible surface cover.
On the banks of the pond, at varying levels, we have planted Ajuga, Hemp Agrimony, Water forget-me-not, Water Figwort, Common Fleabane, Yellow Loosestrife, Siberian Iris, Primroses, Cuckoo Flowers, and even some of the previously overpowering Yellow Flag Iris (but this one is contained in a separate area).
Championing biodiversity in the heart of Clapham
Rectory Grove, London, SW4 0DZ
Charity Number 1055769
