Looking after your pond: Clear outs

Pond restoration: get the wellies!...

If you regularly remove dead leaves and vegetation from your pond then you might only need to clean out your pond once every five or ten years. However, most ponds will need some clearance at least every three or so years.

Autumn is the time of year best suited to pond clearance, since many of the plants and animals are dying back and frogs are not yet returning to ponds to lie dormant through winter. Bucket out the water, or use a pump if you have one, until there is only a small layer of water on the bottom, along with the pond silt. Carefully remove the uppermost layer of silt and put this in a bucket. This layer is where most invertebrate eggs and larvae are lying dormant, so this will need to go back into the pond once re-filled. Put all pond plants into buckets while doing the work. 

You might also come across amphibians (particularly frogs in late autumn). If so, carefully place them in a bucket (remember air-holes) with lots of damp vegetation and release them back into a covered area (e.g. under a bush, a log-pile) next to the pond as soon as the work is finished. Refilling the pond with tap-water is generally fine, though sensitive animals (e.g. overwintering dragonfly larvae) may need to be kept out of the pond until the following day to allow time for the chlorine to dissipate.

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