30 Days Wild: Day 27

Cleaning the pond to help the wildlife

Our pond has recently experienced a lot of very quick growth of algae so, for day 27 of 30 Days Wild, I cleaned our pond! In the main photo, you can see all the algal growth (the slimy-green stuff floating on the surface of the water) and how extensive it has become. In a pond of this size, it's too much and will quickly upset the balance and make it difficult for anything else to live here.

I bought some rubber gloves for pond cleaning, as I don't like slimy textures:

I then set about removing all the algae. There was a lot! I spent about 45 minutes removing all of the plants and then getting the algae out. The biggest problem is that, although in the main photo it looks like a couple of large masses on the surface of the water, it isn't. In fact, it breaks away into lots of pieces and it's a bit iceberg-like - there's more below the waterline than there is on top. Once I'd removed as much of it as I could (there is still some on the surface of the waterlily pot that I cant remove without damaging the plant,) I put most of the plants back into the pond. On the left, I left out the water forget-me-not, as it died very soon after I first put it into the pond. The empty pot is taking up space, and there is no point in it being there:

While I was carrying out this work, our resident male sat happily watching proceedings, and occasionally moved around to get a better look:

I then topped up the pond using naturally treated water from the waterbutt. The water level had gone down by approximately 3 inches once I'd removed the algae! The frog was very happy with the extra water!

He kept swimming around the entire pond, exploring his now cleaner and easier to navigate territory! By the time I'd finished, it had finally gone dark:

I then noticed something on one of our benches:

This is our first ever white plume moth (Pterophorus pentadactyla)! We usually get a few small moths in the garden, and mostly in various shades of brown, so this really caught my eye! Although they are supposed to be common and widespread, this is the first one I've ever seen. It's such an unusual colour and shape - and I really like it! It's so satisfying to know that we've created a garden (and one that's still evolving) that so many different species love!

After that, I filled up the bird feeders:

For days 28 and 29, I've got more gardening planned but not for our garden! You'll have to come back tomorrow to see what I'll be up to!

You can read all of my 30 Days Wild posts here!