Friday, May 22, 2015

Pond Love




You have to love the sound of water splashing and the sight of all kinds of wildlife creeping about and drinking from the running water. Birds, squirrels and flying insects of all sorts. 

These photos were taken the last few years as our pond transitions into maturity. I always complain in the early spring about starting her up. Mucking out the sludge (which super starts my compost ) and repairing winters ravage. There is always the melancholy of losing a plant or two and a fish or two. I stopped obsessing over fish after a mink or ferret  cleaned out my 6 year old Koi and now I only purchase feeder goldfish which get surprisingly as the season progresses.

Last year I took pity on them and rounded them up to a tank in the garage where they fared very well but were happy to be back in the pond a few weeks ago. While I bought all of these fish as feeders, there are quite a few fancy goldfish in the mix with long fantails and fins. They are much more responsive this year and swim up readily to be fed a few fish flakes.

 All in all, once established, the pond pretty much is it's own ecosystem. I rarely intervene after the water clears and the fish and plants keep algae to a minimum and you can see clear to the bottom most days.