Tower and Town, November 2026 (view the full edition)Gardening: The Joys Of Owning A PondI had not thought of owning a pond in my garden, but when we moved house recently the previous owners had already made one in front of a summer house with wooden decking overlooking the water. I now realise the joys of seeing the wildlife which is attracted to this feature. In the spring there is the excitement of seeing the frog spawn arrive. But unfortunately, I think the newts, who arrive a little later, are eating this, as we do not see many tadpoles emerging. We put 20 goldfish into the pond when we arrived, but sadly a heron spotted them from above and managed to get quite a few. Some have survived nevertheless and I think they must lie comatose at the bottom of the pond in the winter months, as we only see them in the summer months when the water warms up. Around the edge of the pond, I have planted irises and marsh marigolds and in the deeper water we have several water lilies which emerge in the summer. We see lots of water boatmen skimming the surface of the water and electric blue damsel flies and huge green dragonflies helicoptering across the pond and laying their eggs on the iris leaves. The birds enjoy the pond as well. We had a couple of mallard ducks last summer who decided they liked the quietness of our pond after the bustle of the canal. They came and went and became quite tame. We managed to feed them with special duck food. We do not know if they had ducklings in our garden, as we never saw them. We called them Donald and Daisy. The other garden birds enjoy having a bath in the shallow end of the pond. I must say, on a warm summer’s evening it is very pleasant to sit on a reclining chair, with a drink in hand, and survey the wildlife activity and appreciate the joys of owning a pond.  Stella Maxwell, Marlborough Gardening Association |