Adding a pond to a stream - any guidance?

Rowley Birkin QC

As above, I'm looking for advice / guidance / experience on adding a farm pond along an existing stream. There's a fall of ground from both sides and a stream flowing through the potential site already. We'd have a good digger man locally but I'm not sure if he has done this kind of work before.

Any of the guidance I have come across online talks about building ponds adjacent to streams whereas this is directly on the path.

Thanks

Base price

Two things come to mind.

First - ensure that you are not interfering with a stream that is used as a spawning ground by fish. I would contact your local NPWS or Inland Fisheries office to get advice. Disturbing spawning grounds results in a Court appearance and fine.

Secondly - afaik, it takes a certain type of clay to retain water otherwise you have to use a liner to line the pond.

Rather than interfere with the stream would you not dig the pond on the field side and have a pipe flowing into it.

My worry in widening the stream to form the pond that the water would just flow through it and not be still water which is what you need for a pond.

Castlekeeper

As well as all the above essential advice, would there be another site where it wouldn't be necessary to remove one higher value wildlife habitat in the creation of another?

minerleague

First dig a temporary trench around site of pond to keep clean water flowing while digging out pond ( farmers downstream may have cattle drinking from stream ) Get digger driver to dig pond a little deeper than finished level (removing any large stones etc) then put back a layer of clay/topsoil and smear/compact it with back of digger bucket to seal (might have to wet it slightly). If the stream flows year round sealing won't be that important anyway (stay away from plastic/rubber liners) Finally a small "island" feature at widest point is a great feature to include if you can. Best of luck, looks like ideal spot for one

mallards

Might also be better to 'T' of the steam rather than have the stream run through it. That way it would take longer for the pond to silt up.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120754138#Comment_120754138

The problem with that is the water in the pond will become stagnant ( all the fresh water will just flow in the stream once the pond is full )

10-10-20

I think that the guidance is that a silt-trap, sediment net or straw-bale buffer be fitted to the outflow so that the disturbed soil doesn't pollute downstream during construction.

minerleague

A lot of pond videos on youtube are american but there is an irish one called Heather Hill Farm who put in a pond recently with some good advice

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120754477#Comment_120754477

why so? i've two garden ponds where the water that flows into them is from rainfall (including from the water butt), and 'outflow' is evaporation. get the right balance and it should be fine.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758498#Comment_120758498

Just assumed I suppose, mine are fed from springs so fresh water coming always. See some US farming videos and they have to put in aerators to blow air in to keep water fresh for cattle. I know you can add certain plants to do the same job. Would evaporation be enough in a larger pond?

magicbastarder

you can get oxygenating plants which will do the job of keeping the water oxygenated. excess fertility could be an issue though, depending on how clean the water feeding into the pond is.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758564#Comment_120758564

A lot of those US ones appear to be reservoirs and they do stagnate. So by putting fish and plants in to balance the algae growth you then necessitate aeration. But it's a tricky one to keep a balance on as the water temps can rise massively, algae can explode and the pond can crash rapidly, so you need shade and depth and weed management and a well established environment.

Anyway, a pond of that size fed by a stream with through-flow wouldn't stagnate unless it was badly laid-out and had muddy shallows. If the sides are kept steep enough, roughly greater than 35 degrees, it should all work together. Having natural rounded stone would be beneficial to create an rocky in-flow delta at the water-line, that's where many of the insects will hang out and around as well as the birds, etc. Think about depth - if there are likely to be kids in the area then it all needs to be kept relatively shallow. Add a shingle beach area (2m sq) for access. As long as the livestock is kept out of it, it should flourish.

Give the digger-man the layout but first work out whether you need lining clay brought in or not. Take out and retain any existing stone and retain it, then dig and line it in a day and return the stone to make the features. Sounds easy from here. 😆

magicbastarder

another thing worth looking into is examining the old OS maps to see if there were any ponds on the land prior to now, will potentially give you ideas or confirm whether the local conditions allow it.

near where my wife grew up (near Ashbourne in north county Dublin), you can see some ponds in fields nearby on the old 6" maps (dating from approx 1830or 1840 IIRC) and some of them were gone by the publication of the 25" maps (around 1911 IIRC).

older by the day

Why are you putting in a pond in the first place? Like was said before you have a stream and nice young trees which is good for the environment. You want too replace it with a hole of dirty water and try and keep animals and young children from going in there

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763188#Comment_120763188

You're joking surely?, ducks, water hens, frogs, heaps of insects, best wildlife habitat possible and seems to be fenced off with electric fence already

Rowley Birkin QC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120764514#Comment_120764514

Exactly. We've discussed putting in a small sheltered pond for a while and this seems a good natural location for one. The drone shots don't really show it but it'll be possible to dig either side of a small island in the middle where trees and bushes are already growing. Already fenced off and well off the beaten track so no major safety concerns.

Thanks all. Lots of reading to catch up on.

magicbastarder

as mentioned above - i would be very wary of just widening the existing stream if that's what you were considering. that will create a wide stream rather than a pond, which would be a very different kind of habitat.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120764514#Comment_120764514

Well going by the size of the parcel you are proposing the duck will have to come out of the water to let the hen in. Your water trough is too close to your stream. You would want to go bigger

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120767499#Comment_120767499

🤣🤣

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120767499#Comment_120767499

Well going by the size of the parcel you are proposing the duck will have to come out of the water to let the hen in

😂That's the funniest thing I've read on here in a while

Birdnuts

In anticipation of rewetting schemes coming down the line, I plan a small duck pond adjacent to one of the old drains coming out of a parcel of peatland(Atlantic Blanket bog) i have that has been out of turf production for nearly 5 years now. The main 2 bog drains will be blocked to stop water escaping downhill to the rest of the farm while the main farm drain just below will be the source of water for the pond, which will also double as a playpen for some hatching ducks and geese I plan on adding to my poultry collection😏