[hubballi]

I collected water from ponds last year.

[hubballi]

Absolutely no frogs or anything this year even though the pond is healthy 

[ANHBUC]

There seems to be no reason for you not to have wildlife in your pond.  You might need to take a sample of the water to an expert.  There are usually garden centres which specialise in ponds.

Have you asked your neighbours if they have ponds and if they have the same problem?

[savbo]

I collected water from ponds last year.

I meant to gather some animals to stock the pond, as they don't seem to be finding it on their own. They'll love a healthy pond with no competition!

[Alastair-I]

Absolutely no frogs or anything this year even though the pond is healthy 

Is there any bare earth within 4' of the pond?  Looking back at your picture I can only see stone and gravel.  Frogs will shelter in the pond during the day, but need a decent area of garden to forage in during the night - and nothing too manicured.  A neat lawn and gravel-mulched beds is a wildlife desert.

[evie2]

I think Alastair might have a point.  Ours is very, very wild, we cant even see it at the moment, the grass is 3 feet tall

[hubballi]

I am having a job to clear the duckweed as it has now covered 100% of the pond. If I take some out it will fill in very very soon. One good thing is I am composting the excess which would be like seaweed feed to plants :-)

[Alastair-I]

Have you got a more recent picture hubballi?  Showing the pond, but also one showing the more general view of the garden around the pond.

As I posted the other day, trying to diagnose why you haven't got the wildlife you expected is difficult without knowing how wildlife friendly the rest of the garden is.  For most wildlife the pond is either a source of shelter or water, it's not going to feed much wildlife directly.  The rest of the garden has to provide the food to attract the wildlife that will use the pond.

Frogs need earthworms, insects, etc to eat.. so to attract the frogs you need to attract the food sources.

There's no point transferring in wildlife from elsewhere if they'll just die of starvation.  Believe me, frogs will find a pond very quickly if they're in your garden.  Ponds do not attract frogs to gardens.  The frogs will already be there when you put the pond in.  Or they won't be there, which sounds most likely in your case.

[hubballi]

They have plenty of food as I have a good wild corner plus all the insects I now attract. We had frogs when I had less plants and insects AND a very small round plastic sunken bucket. If anything, it's much better than it used to be. This is the first time in 10 years I have seen no frogs 

[arugula]

I've just been having a good read all around THIS site. Some very useful info.

[hubballi]

I have put in about 50-80 tadpoles given by a friend. They seem to be doing well. Another thing I have noticed, some kind of pond anemone that moves it's tentacles and retracts very fast when touched. What on earth is this ?

[ANHBUC]

I have put in about 50-80 tadpoles given by a friend. They seem to be doing well. Another thing I have noticed, some kind of pond anemone that moves it's tentacles and retracts very fast when touched. What on earth is this ?

Wonder if you have some sort a predator that is gobbling them all up!   

We introduced some fish and plants from an old pond to ours when we first did our pond.  After a while we found this prehistoric looking bug about the size of a 50 pence piece.  Looked like something off The Mummy or Alien, sort of beetle looking but with a bit of a tail so we disposed of it.  Recently saw a picture of it online and think they are quite rare.     People keep them in aquariums normally but I can't find the name of it now.

Maybe that is your predator!   

I think that you can get fresh water anemones but not heard of them in the u.k.  See if you can get a photo of it.

[Aunt Sally]

I have put in about 50-80 tadpoles given by a friend. They seem to be doing well. Another thing I have noticed, some kind of pond anemone that moves it's tentacles and retracts very fast when touched. What on earth is this ?

Could be a hydra ?  But they are very small.

[Aunt Sally]

I studied them in zoology about a million years ago 

http://www.waterwereld.nu/hydraeng.php

[hubballi]

Yes, I think it's a Hydra but mine seems to have more tentacles and is anchored to the base of the liner in the shallow area. What an amazing little thing.