I have bought a house with quite a large pond, with frogs (I’ve counted 5)

We don’t want a pond as it takes a large part of the garden quite close to the house and I have a 1 year old child who I’d like to play on the land.

Is there a ‘kind’ way to fill the pond in ? I’ve ripped the pond liner out but the clay soil keeps the water level at a reasonable level. I was hoping that the frogs would realise that it wasn’t such a great place to be anymore and would just hop-off into the sunset and find a new pad – no luck so far.

I can’t find a ‘frogs protection league’ type organisation around here (Rochdale area) who might take them off to be rehomed. I also believe that they can’t just be dumped in any old pond and survive.

Am I being soft – should I just dump a ton of soil in the pond and have done with it – do they stand a chance….does it make a difference if I wait until September ? I believe they ‘hibernate’ but I ‘m guess the end result is the same but I might not see them being buried?

Aarrgh – the guilt

do it slowly?

put it in in layers, so if you DO bury one, its got a chance to dig its way out, before you put the next layer in?

that or MTFU, get yo sexy shorts on, and get your hands grubby clearing out the pond by hand?

put froggys in a bucket, fill in the pond, then put the froggys back in the pond, and point and laugh at thier confused little faces.

Drain the pond with a bucket.
Frogs don’t need ponds to survive, only to breed and that season finished a couple of months ago. They’ll be fine if you put them near a bush or something.
Are there any tadpoles? Frogs are declining in this country so if so could you wait until they’ve grown up and move on? (about another month)

you’d need *a lot* of frogs to fill a pond surely?

best approach? some sort of frog conveyor?

If you catch them you may as well eat their legs.

Move them to a neighbour’s/ mate’s/ kid’s friends pond. We did this and it has worked a treat. The frogs have travelled across the postcode to populate anew. Hurrah for biodiversity.

Net, bucket and 6 yr old was the technique we used. The net was discretionary as she rather liked handling them. But she’s a bit like that.

frogs and ponds are great, frogs eat all the nasty insects that would otherwise feats on your flowers and veg. keep the pond, educate the child as to the dangers it poses.

i have a similar dilemma but want to keep some sort of pond as i love watching the fish & frogs.
am considering a raised up area to locate the new pond. as above if you just want to move the frogs on then they should be ok. im guessing some sort of net is best to collect them with – hopefully they will find a nice spot a few doors down or bush / compost / logs sort of location.

eat ’em of course 🙄

How many frogs can you fit in a telephone box?

educate the child as to the dangers it poses.

I presume you’ve not had a 1 year old child?

Some people put fences around them.

When I was a kid I had a mate who had a pond in his garden – he managed to fall in during a game of ‘Simon says’.

Thanks…I’m not feeling as bad about it now.
I’ll probably give them another month then slowly fill it in. I will also keep a look out for any local frog ponds I could move them to (although creating an alternative pond in a further corner of the garden is a pretty good idea)

get yourself a heron?
frogs aren’t rare enough to get prosecuted over
rubble and soil are in order unless it’ll make a nice bowl with a little work

Take the water out
Fill hole with wood, etc

FIRE PIT!!!!!

Enjoy

Your child won’t be 1 for long. Two or three years time you’ll be wishing you had a pond. There is nothing they like better than poking about with a pond..

Even better if you have clay and can keep the pond without even a liner!

Do be sure you are not making a mistake.

Just keep the pond, they’re a fantastic feature, far nicer than some decking and tarmac in what some people like to call a ‘garden’ If you are concerned about a child falling in, you could simply put a tough raised net across the top of the pond, about 2″ so that the frogs can still have access, people often do this when they have coy and the like, keeps the Heron’s out.

Failing that, cover the garden in bubble wrap.

Get a large metal grill made that sits just under the surface of the water. The pond will be safe and you’ll keep all the wildlife.

So youre evicting the Frogs, they`ll be hopping mad.

You could fill the pond with so many frogs the little one would fall onto them if she fell in.

In our last house we put a double butlers sink into a corner of the garden ( it took 4 chaps to lift it). Within weeks the wildlife was arriving.
In our current garden I’ve just put in a raised pond, this is so much safer for children.
So consider doing something on a smaller scale. Frogs will be happy, you’ll be happy. Slugs and snails won’t be happy.
Next year when your toddler is older it will enjoy the frogs and birds that beefit from having water in the garden.

I made up a wooden frame with wire mesh to cover the pond (its just a puddle if you ask me). That way you can educate the little rug rats to stay off, but its also safe if they do walk over it. Works for the dogs too. 😉

Why not turn the pond into a bog garden?

Fill the pond with soil and the lack of drainage means you will be able to grow plants that like it damp. Things like Gunnera will thrive.

Then when the little one is old enough to cope with a pond (about 18 should do it) you can dig the soil out.

I asked the GF as I thought she’d know

“go buy another house you winker, they were there first”

Sorry. It wasn’t the reply I was expecting either.

Park a Panzer regiment in the herbaceous border and they’ll come out voluntarily with their little webbed hands up.

Frogs return to the pond where they were taddies. I’d keep the pond,ensuring that it’s child safe and as others have said they’ll enjoy it when they are older.