Garden frog/newt rescue - advice needed

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   Hello, I am a garden designer working in East Anglia. I have signed on to this forum in search of advice.

I have taken on a commission for a garden in Ipswich. My client is a private individual who has just moved into a new property, and I will be giving his garden a complete makeover in the course of the next eighteen months or so. The plans are not finalised, and work will not begin until late summer, but we have agreed that the final design will include a wildlife pond.

In the meantime, the existing garden pond presents something of a problem. It is constructed from a pre-formed liner, approx. 6� x 4�, and is appallingly badly sited: too close to the house and placed squarely across one of the main access routes from the house into the garden. It is a serious hazard � a potential leg-breaker, and a death trap for toddlers, and has to be filled in. According to the vendor, however, it supports established colonies of frogs and newts (not great crested, as far as I know). Obviously, I want to preserve these populations and transfer them to the new pond, and would prefer to delay action until next winter. My client, however, is adamant that the pond must be filled in ASAP. 

I am well aware that this is not the best time of year to do this but, although my client and I are old friends, he is not the most enlightened or well-informed person with regards to environmental matters and, in the absence of prompt action, he is quite capable of taking matters into his own hands and filling in the pond with rubble, frogs or no frogs.

My plan, therefore, is to dig a temporary pond elsewhere in the garden, and transfer plants and spawn there, when it appears (none so far, but I have seen frogs mating recently), and allow the frogs and newts to reach adulthood and disperse before transferring the water and plants to the new wildlife pond. 

A further problem is that the plant mass at the bottom of the pond appears to consist entirely of Parrotfeather (Myriophyllum aquatica). I will be planting the final pond with native aquatics, and I am well aware of the undesirability of this species and have no wish to propagate it. However, if there are newts breeding in the pond, I presume thaeir eggs will be fixed to these plants, so I will at least have to transfer it to the temporary pond. After that, how should I go about transferring the invertebrate population to their final destination, to �prime� the ecology of the wildlife pond, without propagating the Parrotfeather?

Is this project likely to succeed? Any advice on preparation, techniques or equipment would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Geometer

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Geometer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Geometer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Garden frog/newt rescue - advice needed Posted: 27 Mar 2006 at 10:55am
	Hello, I am a garden designer working in East Anglia. I have signed on to this forum in search of advice. I have taken on a commission for a garden in Ipswich. My client is a private individual who has just moved into a new property, and I will be giving his garden a complete makeover in the course of the next eighteen months or so. The plans are not finalised, and work will not begin until late summer, but we have agreed that the final design will include a wildlife pond. In the meantime, the existing garden pond presents something of a problem. It is constructed from a pre-formed liner, approx. 6� x 4�, and is appallingly badly sited: too close to the house and placed squarely across one of the main access routes from the house into the garden. It is a serious hazard � a potential leg-breaker, and a death trap for toddlers, and has to be filled in. According to the vendor, however, it supports established colonies of frogs and newts (not great crested, as far as I know). Obviously, I want to preserve these populations and transfer them to the new pond, and would prefer to delay action until next winter. My client, however, is adamant that the pond must be filled in ASAP. I am well aware that this is not the best time of year to do this but, although my client and I are old friends, he is not the most enlightened or well-informed person with regards to environmental matters and, in the absence of prompt action, he is quite capable of taking matters into his own hands and filling in the pond with rubble, frogs or no frogs. My plan, therefore, is to dig a temporary pond elsewhere in the garden, and transfer plants and spawn there, when it appears (none so far, but I have seen frogs mating recently), and allow the frogs and newts to reach adulthood and disperse before transferring the water and plants to the new wildlife pond. A further problem is that the plant mass at the bottom of the pond appears to consist entirely of Parrotfeather (Myriophyllum aquatica). I will be planting the final pond with native aquatics, and I am well aware of the undesirability of this species and have no wish to propagate it. However, if there are newts breeding in the pond, I presume thaeir eggs will be fixed to these plants, so I will at least have to transfer it to the temporary pond. After that, how should I go about transferring the invertebrate population to their final destination, to �prime� the ecology of the wildlife pond, without propagating the Parrotfeather? Is this project likely to succeed? Any advice on preparation, techniques or equipment would be much appreciated. Regards, Geometer

Robert V Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1264	Post Options Post Reply Quote Robert V Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2006 at 3:32pm
	Wow, what a job!. Just a suggestion, but why can't you pump out most of the water from the precast pond (so assistants are able to lift it) move that out of the way but with enough water to allow for the newts to develop. Fill in the hole with the earth that you are digging out of the new pond site, sand and liner the new site, fill and landscape, then as the newts grow, net them from the shallows of the precast, wash them in a bucket of free standing rain water, transfer individually to the new pond. let the old pond dry out, then skip the parrot feather or burn it away from the new pond site? Any good? R
	RobV

Geometer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Geometer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Mar 2006 at 10:52am
	Robert - thank you for that. I hadn't seriously considered lifting the entire pond+contents out in one go, but now you've suggested it I've given it some thought, and it might just be feasible. I'll assess the practicalities when I'm there over the weekend. Plenty of activity in the pond now the weather's warmed up - at least half-a-dozen frogs, including two mating pairs, and a briefly-glimpsed male newt on Tuesday, so should be spawn soon. How long does frog spawn take to hatch? I'm sure I shall have more questions soon, but for now, thanks again. Geometer