Reading How to Create a Wildlife Pond one thing is clear. Kate Bradbury is obsessed with ponds. Stopped from digging one as a child, she now has three and is “contemplating a fourth”.
“I know that I will never live without one again,” the award-winning wildlife writer tells us.
I was given a copy in return for a fair review.
It’s a passion I can understand. There’s nothing quite like a pond to add an air of tranquillity to a garden and their benefit to wildlife is immeasurable. Not only do they provide water for garden birds, they are home to everything from dragonflies to frogs.
With the loss of so many natural ponds, those we create in gardens are even more important not least because they allow wildlife to migrate, stopping populations becoming inbred.
“A network of ponds can act as stepping stones, between which a huge variety of species can travel.”
Having established why we should incorporate a pond into our gardens, How to Create a Wildlife Pond goes on to explain how to go about it from where to place a pond to what to plant.
Step-by-step instructions and equipment needed are given for a series of ‘projects’, covering wildlife, formal, small container and trough ponds. It’s detailed advice but clearly explained.
There’s a section on plants for every area of the pond with useful photos and warnings about plants to avoid.
After the practicalities, the book moves on to how to make the most of your pond. There are instructions on how to do pond-dipping with children, and an overview of seasonal changes, including profiles of some of the more common wildlife that are likely to take up residence.
A section on pond maintenance and common queries completes what is a comprehensive book.
How to Create a Wildlife Pond could have been a factual but uninspiring read. What sets it alight is the author’s obvious enthusiasm for ponds.
“They’re a complete world of weird and wonderful, with layers of complex life. They make me happy. I think they’ll make you happy too.”
What better encouragement to start digging?
RHS How to Create a Wildlife Pond by Kate Bradbury is published by Dorling Kindersley with a RRP of £14.99. You can buy it here for £11.25. (If you buy through this link, I get a small commission. The price you pay is unaffected.)
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I often want to purchase the books you have reviewed, but I absolutely refuse to purchase anything from Amazon. It’s there no other website you can partner with such as World of Books or Bookshop.irg?
I don’t think any of the others do partnerships, unfortunately. I completely understand what you say and I keep debating whether to include the link for the same reason. I get very little back but it is the only source of income for the blog, as I don’t want to put ads on it. I’ve just looked and this title is on the bookshop.org site for £13.94 https://bit.ly/3a8lmGv