Rain-fed wildlife-friendly pond step-by-step

What you'll need to make your wildlife-friendly rain-fed pond;

• A rainwater diverter or flexible pipe to carry the water from your downpipe
• A large sheet of pond liner
• Some sand or underlay to protect the liner on stony soil
• Gabions and large stones or broken paving slabs
• Gravel or cobbles
• A mix of pond and marginal plants

• Dig a hole and connect to a downpipe - Dig a hole (at least 30cm/1ft deep and 90cm/3ft diameter) for your pond several meters* out from a garden shed or building. Connect it to the downpipe with a piece of pipe. Make sure there is a slight fall on the pipe. Here we run the pipe under a garden deck. *If siting your rain garden closer than 5m (16ft) to your house, seek advice from a Geotechnical Adviser or Registered Ground Engineering Professional to avoid any damage to foundations by infiltrating water.

• Safeguard from punctures - On stony ground line the hole and any depression where the liner will extend to with sand to safeguard from punctures.

• Fit the pond liner - Lay out the liner, leaving a bit of slack for when it is filled with water.

• Disguise the outlet pipe - We used an old industrial piece of piping and added some gabions filled with old concrete paving slabs which will create hiding spaces for amphibians.

• Cover up the liner - Hide the liner with gravel or pebbles. You can tuck any loose edges into the soil with a spade. A long shallow slope where water levels can rise and fall is ideal for wildlife

• Plant the edges of your pond - Finish off by planting the edges with plants that cope with an occasional flooding as this area will absorb excess rainwater in the event of a rainstorm. Mulch
  Mulch is a layer of material, at least 5cm (2in) thick, applied to the soil surface in late autumn to late winter (Nov-Feb). It is used to provide frost protection, improve plant growth by adding nutrients or increasing organic matter content, reducing water loss from the soil, for decorative purposes and suppressing weeds. Examples include well-rotted garden compost and manure, chipped bark, gravel, grit and slate chippings. with more gravel.

• Give wildlife a helping hand - Place cobbles or stones to offer birds and hedgehogs easy access for a drink. Let the pond naturally fill with rainwater.

• Job done! Sit back and enjoy