Pond Life: The wildlife pond through the year

I thought it is time for a new blog post after being quiet all summer. I created my wildlife pond in September last year (if you want to see how I have done it have a look here) and it has developed really well. The pond plants have grown a lot and the pond is full of life; not just frogs and newts but numerous other small creatures such as water beetles, snails, water fleas, water boatmen and pond skaters. The pond is also a nice place for foxes, hedgehogs and birds to come for a drink, the latter also like to take a bath.

Follow me on a journey through the year to see how the pond has changed and what wildlife I have seen.

A cold and misty morning in February

The first frogspawn appears at the beginning of March

More frogspawn!

The tadpoles have hatched at the end of March

A large water beetle is visiting the pond

Everything is looking much greener at the end of April

Tadpoles are growing fast

Pond skaters are skidding around on the water surface, waiting for hapless insects to fall into the water

A frog is watching me

Geum coccineum is flowering at the end of April

Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) is starting to flower as well

The wildlife pond in May

Ragged robin looks nice at the pond margin

Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) is flowering in the bog garden adjacent to the pond

In June blue damselflies arrive

The damselflies like to sit on the iris leaves

A four-spotted chaser is waiting for some insects to grab and eat

The pond at the end of June

The pygmy water lily, which I rescued from the old pond, is flowering

An interesting pond visitor, a leech, has arrived out of nowhere. I think this is one of the leeches in the genus Glossiphonia which suck body fluids from snails and other soft-bodied invertebrates

Here yo can see that the leech is a female as she carries her offspring around underneath the belly

The pond at the beginning of July

Frogs are in and out of the pond, hunting for insects in the surrounding borders but come back to the pond to rehydrate

A large dragonfly larva, which are voracious predators

The pond at the end of July, with self-seeded ragged robin flowering again

Common darters have paired up, on top is the male, holding the female by the neck

Common daters ready to lay eggs on plants just below the pond surface

August is hot and dry and many animals, including wasps, come to the pond to drink

The pond in August, with Gaura lindheimeri flowering in the background

Mares tail, marsh cinquefoil and water lily give a pretty picture

This Common dater male is defending the pond as his territory

The pond in October, many plants are slowly winding down and are preparing for winter now

November brings the first proper frost, the pond has a thin layer of ice, plants are dormant and many of the pond animals are less active now or are hibernating at the bottom of the pond

Soon the cycle will start again and everything will spring back into life.

The pond was one of the best things I created so far, it has given me so much joy and so much to see and discover. I love to just sit at the edge of the pond and watch what is going on. The pond has also given many pond animals a new home and is an important source of water for mammals and birds. I hope I could give you some inspiration to build a pond yourself. If you already have a pond you know what I am talking about :-).

My wildlife allotment in March 2019

Spring has arrived on the allotment. After coming back from a week's holiday to Gran Canaria in the second half of March I was surprised to find the allotment so much greener and with flowers opening everywhere. Many of the perennials are coming back to life now and often the first thing I do when visiting the allotment is to walk around all three plots to look for new signs of life. It feels a bit like greeting old friends after you have not seen them for a while. I am also very much looking forward to seeing all the new plants starting into growth as I have grown most of them from seed and only planted them out in autumn and winter last year...

Read more in my Hardy Plant Society blog post

Wild tulips: Beauties of the early spring garden

I planted a lot of spring bulbs on the allotment such as crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and anemones. But the spring bulbs I love most are the wild tulips. I have now started a small collection as my allotment suits them well with lots of sunshine and well-drained soil. The first tulip to flower each year, often as early as early March, is Tulipa turkestanica with pretty white flowers with a yellow centre. I planted the bulbs in one of my steppe plantings. They like the sandy well-drained soil and come back every year.

Tulipa turkestanica

A fly is eating some pollen from a Tulipa turkestanica flower

Another tulip which likes the well-drained conditions in the steppe planting is Tulipa tarda, flowering a bit later, at the end of March. A low-growing tulip with pretty yellow and white flowers. Like many wild tulips, the flowers only open in the sunshine and look quite inconspicuous on overcast days, blending in with the surrounding vegetation. But wait until the sun comes out and suddenly they are transformed, looking like little yellow stars, closely hugging the ground. So pretty. I have also planted some Tulipa tarda in the flower meadows to provide some interest before the meadow plants start flowering.

The flowers of Tulipa tarda only open in sunshine

Tulipa praestans 'Fusilier', another beautiful tulip from Central Asia,  is starting to flower in mid March. The colour of the flowers is a pure glowing red which stands out from the surrounding green even from far away. The plants are growing in loamy soil with some sand and gravel mixed in. I love these tulips so much that I planted some more last autumn in a different area.

Tulipa praestans flowers stand out from the surrounding vegetation

Tulipa praestans has beautiful red flowers

Tulipa sylvestris is opening its pretty yellow flowers at the end of March. The flowers sit on long slim stems and are slightly nodding. The tulips feel at home under the currant bushes and have gently spread out over the years. They are quite easy to please as long as they have well-drained soil and some sunshine.

Tulipa sylvestris has slightly nodding flowers

Tulipa sylvestris

Tulipa saxatilis

 Flowering at the beginning of April is Tulipa saxatilis, a tulip with pink flowers and broad leaves. This Tulip seems to be happy in the flower border between other low-growing plants. Tulipa humilis has reddish flowers with a dark centre,  T. urumiensis is a small yellow-flowered tulip and  T. linifolia has pure red flowers and very narrow leaves.
There are many more wild tulips and I try to add a few more each year to my growing collection. In Germany I have also grown Tulipa clusiana which has yellow and red or white and red flowers on tall stems and likes sandy soil.

Tulipa humilis

Tulipa clusiana

I have also sown the seed of Tulipa sprengeri, a tall red-flowered tulip, The seeds need stratification and are currently in the fridge as they only germinate after experiencing several month of cold temperatures. Tulipa sprengeri bulbs are very difficult to buy as they are not produced commercially. Occasionally the bulbs are offered by private growers and are sold out very quickly.

Wild tulips come from mountainous areas with temperate climates, where they are a common element of steppe and winter-rain Mediterranean vegetation. They thrive in climates with long, cool springs and dry summers which we increasingly seem to get here in the South of Oxfordshire. As most wild tulips come from open habitats such as steppes and meadows they need to be planted in full sunshine. Tulipa sprengeri is the one exception as it likes the cool shade under decidous trees. The soil needs to be free-draining and not too fertile. Otherwise wild tulips don`t need much care and when happy come back every year.

Tulipa saxatilis has broad leaves and pink flowers

Bees especially solitary bees, and other early pollinators such as hoverflies, like to visit the flowers so these tulips are a good addition for a wildlife garden.

Best planting time is autumn and early winter, so don`t forget to order some this summer so you can enjoy some early spring colour next year.

Crocuses and bumblebees

Spring has started early this year. We already had temperatures of about 20 C, and we are still in February! The warm sunshine has brought out the bumblebees. The first to emerge are the queens which will be very hungry after hibernation. The first thing the queens will do after emerging is looking for food to fill their empty stomachs. Not many plants flower at this time of year but normally there are always some dandelions, lesser celandine and cherry plum flowers to be found.

Crocuses are good pollinator plants as well, offering pollen and nectar which also attract other early pollinators such as solitary bees and hoverflies.

A carpet of yellow and purple crocuses

Buff-tailed bumblebee queen

Years ago I planted a handful of different crocus bulbs on the allotment. They have thrived and multiplied and I now have small carpets of yellow and purple crocuses in different areas on the allotment which look really pretty. They also attract bumblebee queens.

Often the queens are starved and weak after hibernating for months, crawling from flower to flower instead of flying, getting stronger while drinking the nectar. Once the stomach is full they will start searching for suitable nesting sites but not without frequently coming back to my crocuses to fill up again on the sweet nectar.

Hungry bumblebee queen

Often, freshly emerged queens are quite weak and need food quickly

Two red-tailed bumblebee queens

If you don`t have crocuses in your garden plant some! They are pretty, easy to please and good for pollinators. Best planting time is from September to November. They like sunshine but also grow in half-shade. Crocuses don`t need any watering or other care, these little flowers pretty much look after themselves. What more can you wish for. And don`t forget to look for bumblebee queens in early spring!

A white-tailed bumblebee queen

Plant crocuses and the bumblebees will come

This queen has found the crocus growing in my raised bed