Pond spring clean

Tynemouth Boating Lake

Inspired by the restoration work being carried out at Tynemouth boating lake I decided that after 4 years of letting my garden pond 'mature' it was time to give it a clean; remove silt, re-pot plants etc. To keep the task simple I thought a pump of some sort could be used to pump the silt out of the deeper part of the pond so I went in search of one at a local garden centre. I was shown a pond vacuum - only £250!!

Needless to say I didn't part with a penny and instead combined a pond pump, some hose and a large water butt and pumped the pond empty. Had I gone down the pump/hoover route it would have turned out to be a big mistake as in the bottom of the pond were no less than 10 frogs - just the right size to get stuck in a hoover! I wonder what happens to frogs dredged from Tynemouth Boating Lake?!

Pond is now sorted ready for spring and frog spawn (25th march last year).