Murky pond - 5 years old. Hard winter damage??

[Galning]

My pond (which I really put in for birds / wildlife) has no fish and it is 3 levels (beach / 20cm shelf / 50cm deep end). The pic from last July (attached) is the "beach" end and the one of taddies is from last April and shows how clear the water normally is (and has been for the 5 years since I put it in). There are probably more then 20 adult frogs in there and the number of taddies seems down this year, poss because the pigeons were pecking at the spawn.

This year it seems to be murky from about an inch under the surface down. It's not algae / blanket weed because i have snails breeding like crazy, lots of oxygenators and (when the plants get going) plenty of surface cover. Also, for the hottest part of the day, it's half in shade and usually crystal clear all year round.

The plants don't look quite as healthy as normal and i'm wondering if it's frost damage and whether i should just wait and see for a while? Where i live (East Yorks) we've had quite a cold winter (worst for a good few years) and, elsewhere in the garden a lot of plants were badly frost burned. My pond froze over a number of times and wondering if it's just a bit bedraggled.

I can't really use Barley Straw as the last 3 bundles that I put in (last year) were dragged out and destroyed by a fox (caught the little devil on CCTV). Not sure what it's looking for but it waits for me to put a new one in and then drags it out and scatters it around the garden.

Has anyone got any thoughts, please?

 

[bagsmom]

Good morning! I would love to have tadpoles one of these years! Here in the southern US, we had some late-season cold snaps. I have absolutely noticed that everything in my yard, including the pond, is slow to get going. I would give your pond some extra time to clear up this year! (It would have been very funny to see a fox going after your barley straw!)

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum! Usually by now I have a ton of tads, the toads are on delay, our temps have been going up and down a lot.

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi galning, welcome to the forum ! i think you hit the nail on the head regarding our weather its just knocked everything back this year and these near freezing overnights that are still going on is just slowing everything down. give it another week and i think the temps will start to rise and things will soon be back to where they should be, nature always finds a way, lovely looking wildlife pond by the way. why do you put in barley straw ? all the best mark

 

[yorkshire pudding]

these are my taddys this year im also in east yorkshire area

 

[Galning]

hi galning, welcome to the forum ! i think you hit the nail on the head regarding our weather its just knocked everything back this year and these near freezing overnights that are still going on is just slowing everything down. give it another week and i think the temps will start to rise and things will soon be back to where they should be, nature always finds a way, lovely looking wildlife pond by the way. why do you put in barley straw ? all the best mark

Thank you! I used to have a huge, raised pond with fish and got fed up of the local Heron doing his 5am sushi run. The fish that he didn't get he left with blisters so, once I'd lost the last one, I removed it. But then we had a hot summer and i felt sorry for the birds and put a wildlife pond in.

What Monty Don doesn't tell you though is how much it attracts RATS! 30 years with no issues and now, 3 years running, have had them nesting under my Hawthorn hedge. Perfect storm of shelter, dropping from bird seed and water source.

Because I don't have a filtration system on this one I had always put in a small bundle of Barley as it helps to stop it going green. I can understand the fox taking the first one out as it smelt funky (you leave them in about 5-6 months). But after that it ripped them up within 24 hours of me putting them in.

Otherwise it's pretty much maint free and seems really healthy. Have used a wildlife cam and caught all the local cats drinking from it, hedgehogs swimming on several occasions (presumably getting rid of fleas), mice, rats (wasn't so keen on those), frogs - and birds are in and out from dawn till dusk.

Blackbirds are a pain in the rear as they chuck the pebbles around, looking for food and I've caught them on camera smacking taddies on the stones to stun them (before swallowing) and grabbing snails from the waters edge. So, once again, I have a sushi bar!!! Just different clientele.

I thought it might be the temps but thought I'd just see if anyone else was having the same issue as it looks a bit forlorn. Thank you for answering. Tracey

 

[Galning]

View attachment 138311these are my taddys this year im also in east yorkshire area

Nice! I've only got about a third of what i had last year. I don't know whether the pigeons were eating the spawn before or after hatching. But, again, there was a frost one night when the spawn was quite fresh - and they had laid it pretty much in a place I thought was too shallow. Tracey

 

[Galning]

Good morning! I would love to have tadpoles one of these years! Here in the southern US, we had some late-season cold snaps. I have absolutely noticed that everything in my yard, including the pond, is slow to get going. I would give your pond some extra time to clear up this year! (It would have been very funny to see a fox going after your barley straw!)

Morning. Thank you for responding. I've put the fox CCTV in

- I've not been in YouTube for ages so afraid it's got a 2 min "premiere" on the beginning. Won't do that again!

It's not great film but, at the start, you can see the fox, top right, pulling at something. It's only 37 seconds long and, just before the end, it appears and walks across the camera.

Up to getting this film i couldn't understand where my bundle had gone as it took the first one away!
Tracey

 

[Galning]

Welcome to the forum! Usually by now I have a ton of tads, the toads are on delay, our temps have been going up and down a lot.

Thank you. I think I've looked at your pond build before! Back in the 90s I had a huge, raised pond with a lot of fish but gave up (as I've mentioned in someone else's reply a few minutes ago) because the Heron kept using it as a Sushi bar at 5am.

About 5 years ago I put this wildlife pond in after I'd noticed the birds struggling in a particularly dry summer. I just planted it up, put a dozen snails in and pretty much leave it to get on with it. Birds are happy - as is all the other wildlife that visits day and night.

thanks for responding

Tracey

 

[Galning]

hi galning, welcome to the forum ! i think you hit the nail on the head regarding our weather its just knocked everything back this year and these near freezing overnights that are still going on is just slowing everything down. give it another week and i think the temps will start to rise and things will soon be back to where they should be, nature always finds a way, lovely looking wildlife pond by the way. why do you put in barley straw ? all the best mark

PS- in reply to Bagsmom I've put a 37 second video of my fox vandal

 

[bagsmom]

PS- in reply to Bagsmom I've put a 37 second video of my fox vandal

I enjoyed it! When I finish my backyard pond, I would love to have a camera to capture the wildlife that visits!

 

[Galning]

I enjoyed it! When I finish my backyard pond, I would love to have a camera to capture the wildlife that visits!

Problem is you can get dozens of video files a night, depending on how sensitive your trigger is set. then you have to look through them all and decide which cute ones to keep!

 

[addy1]

I enjoyed it! When I finish my backyard pond, I would love to have a camera to capture the wildlife that visits!

I lover our system, 32 cams by the time I am done

Problem is you can get dozens of video files a night, depending on how sensitive your trigger is set. then you have to look through them all and decide which cute ones to keep!

Yep the bugs set them off all night long. Looks like it snowing with the amount of bugs flying around.

 

[j.w]

@Galning
Love your wildlife pond and your sneaky fox!
Might be that your pond needs some water movement like some aeration or a filter to keep things moving a little. I'm just guessing tho as the pond has been doing so well for 5 yrs w/o it.