Creating a Woodland Pond for Amphibians

Why a woodland pond earns its place

A coppiced wood is already a mosaic of light and shade, and that variety is exactly what amphibians need. Frogs, toads and newts spend most of the year away from water, tucked into damp leaf litter, under logs and inside tussocky grass, but they must return to water to breed. Britain has lost a huge proportion of its ponds over the last century, so every well-made one matters. A pond in a wood also pulls in dragonflies, damselflies, water beetles and bats, and it gives you a focal point for rides and coupes that can be worked into the coppice rotation rather than fighting it.

Finding the right spot

Light is the single biggest factor. Aim for a pond that sits in sun for at least half the day, ideally with a south or south-west facing margin. Warmth drives tadpole development, and sunlit shallows are where dragonflies hunt and females lay eggs. Deep shade under a dense beech or conifer canopy will produce a cold, lifeless pool.

That said, some shade is useful in a warming climate: it slows evaporation and keeps the water cooler in July and August. A gap on the edge of a coupe, or a widened ride with a few standard trees on the north side, is close to ideal.

Other things to weigh up:

• Soil. Clay holds water beautifully; sand and gravel will need a liner. Dig a trial hole and watch it after rain.
• Position in the slope. Avoid the bottom of a track or ditch where silt, fuel and road runoff collect.
• Watercourses. Never take water from a stream that might carry fish. Fish and tadpoles do not mix.
• Access. Can a mini-digger reach the site, and can it get out again? On heavy clay, do the work in a dry late summer.

Shaping the pond

Think of a pudding basin rather than a bucket. A generous pond might be six to ten metres across, but even four by three metres will work. Depth matters less than profile: a central area of 60–100cm gives refuge from frost and summer drought, while broad shallow margins of 0–20cm provide the warm water amphibians need for spawning.

Make at least one side very gently sloped, around one in four, so frogs, toads and newts can climb out easily. Toads in particular struggle with steep, smooth sides. Bury the liner edge under turf and subsoil so it is hidden, and lay a protective underlay beneath it. If your soil is puddled clay, you may not need a liner at all, though it is fiddly to get right.

Keep the outline irregular. Mark it with a rope or hosepipe first, then cut curves rather than straight lines, and leave a few bare mud patches on the margins. Amphibians bask on wet mud, and those open spots are also where you will see the first frogspawn.

Planting up with native species

Plant in bands and let the pond find its own balance. In the shallows, try marsh marigold, water forget-me-not, ragged robin, bogbean and yellow flag iris. Around the margins, purple loosestrife, soft rush and greater tussock sedge give cover and egg-laying sites. Submerged plants such as hornwort and water starwort oxygenate the water and shelter larvae.

Please do not plant invasive non-natives. Floating pennywort, New Zealand pygmyweed, parrot's feather and water fern cause real damage and it is an offence to plant them in the wild. Buy from a reputable native supplier, or better still, let plants arrive naturally from nearby ponds and ditches.

Equally important: do not introduce spawn or tadpoles from another site. Disease and invasive plants travel with them. If you build it, the frogs really will come.

Fitting the pond into the coppice cycle

A pond in a working wood needs a little forethought at felling time. Leave an uncut buffer of trees on the uphill side to filter silt, and time your coupes so that the pond is not suddenly exposed to full sun and heavy leaf fall all at once. Oak and beech leaves are slow to rot; rake a little out every few years rather than letting the pond fill with acid sludge.

Brash from coppicing is ideal habitat material. Stack a few piles of cut wood and brash in the shade near the pond as refuges for newts and frogs, and leave standing deadwood where it is safe to do so.

If great crested newts are present, the law protects them and their habitat, so check before any desilting or felling and take advice. As a rule, carry out any silt removal in late September or October, and leave spoil on the bank for a day or two so creatures can crawl back into the water.

Patience, and the first arrivals

Frogs often find a new pond within a season; newts usually take two or three years, and dragonflies may turn up the very first summer. Let the pond settle, resist the urge to tidy it, and expect it to need a light desilt perhaps once a decade. Coppicing and pond creation sit together nicely: both are about interrupting uniformity and letting light back in. Build the pond well, work the wood around it gently, and the wildlife will do the rest.