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Birds & Beasts: Controlling and Inviting Pond Creatures
When it comes to beasts and birds and pond creatures in the water garden, there are a few of the good kind and there are a few of the not-so-welcome kind. Here’s a few links for helping you attract the good guys and discourage the bad guys. Pond turtles fall into the love ‘em but hate ‘em category of pond creatures. They’re cute. Every pond needs a small herd of them. But, they can eat the fish. And, in the spring the females do a marvelous job of pondside excavation digging holes to lay their eggs. Somehow they always manage to dig up the most expensive plant in the garden because that’s the best place for both their eggs and your plant. They win. But who can argue that seeing a turtle sitting on a log in your pond is one on the relaxing sights in the garden and one of the reasons you built the pond. Pond snails are the scavengers of the pond world. They exist to chow down on rotting foliage and algae. As such, they are an integral part of the pond ecosystem. Do not discourage them. Here’s the lowdown on snails and getting them into your pond. Hint: never buy pond snails. They come free on all plants.
Frogs. You can’t beat these guys. I’ve seen them appear in the middle of a concrete-jungle city as if they dropped out of the sky right smack in the middle of the pond. Nobody knows where they came from but come they did. And a good thing too because frogs are another important part of the pond ecology. Not to mention an important part of the sound-generating aspect of the pond. Nobody who has ever heard the males “singing” to attract females in the spring will ever want to remove them (except at 3 am in the amorous morning when the spurned suitors are still trying) I wish I could be more positive about Herons. These winged mauraders will quickly strip a pond of fish (the more expensive the fish, the faster the Heron will eat it). Luckily there are a few effective things you can do to convince this bird not to bother your pond. And some of them actually work. No pond is safe from raccoons. These masked bandits can do a lot of damage to a backyard pond in their search for goodies. Here’s a few hints on how to handle them
The good news about mosquitoes is that frogs and birds eat them like there is not tomorrow and the fish in your pond consider them delicacies. If you don't feel the same way, you may want to check out this article on mosquitoes And another mosquito related control product review is here about mosquiteo magnets. Personally, I really like dragonflies and damselflies because they chow down on all kinds of biting and stinging insects. This pond insect is a great gardener's friend and here's how to attract them to the pond. Pond creatures are part of the natural ecology of the pond and our job is to encourage that natural balance. Click here for free newsletter or to ask Doug a question about pond creatures
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