Make a garden pond!

We found out that in the last 100 years, nearly 70% of ponds have been lost from the UK countryside.

Ponds will help all kinds of wildlife. Some animals will come for a drink and other animals might come to live in the pond. Having a pond will encourage minibeasts to come to the garden and then other animals will come because there is more food. Lots of plants like to live in ponds too. Ponds reflect sunlight so help the plants around it to grow better too.

We like having a pond, even though it is tiny, because it is really interesting to see what grows in it and see the animals that use it. Here is how we made our pond:

1. Get something waterproof to be your pond – we used a washing up bowl because we did not have much space. You could use a bigger tub or even a bath tub, or when you dig the hole you could line it with something waterproof instead.

2. Decide where you are going to put your pond. We put ours in the corner where we have a wild area because we thought it would be best for plants and bugs.

3. Dig a hole the size of your pond object

4. Put the pond into the hole so that the edges are flat to the ground.

5. Put little pebbles in the bottom of the pond, so that there are hiding places and nice things for little creatures to walk on

6. Put some big stones up like a ramp from the bottom to one side. This is important so that if anything falls in they can climb out again

7. If you want you can put in some pond plants like pond weed, and you can also put stones around the edge of the pond to make it look nicer

8. It is best to let your pond fill up with rain water because animals and plants will like this more than tap water

9. Then you are finished. Enjoy your pond and watch to see what plants and animals you get there.