After the driest spring on record, water became increasingly scarce and survival hard for the wildlife here at my Yorkshire home.
Building a pond for wildlife
A few years ago, I built a small pond and fitted cameras to capture the daily comings and goings. My pond is one of the few water sources in the area and animals soon flocked in their droves to drink. Woodpeckers, buzzards, even ducks, became regular daily visitors, and at night hedgehogs, foxes, badgers and roe deer stopped by. I also some rare visitors like a Eurasian goshawk.
A place to bathe and play
Wrens, blackbirds, pigeons and even owls also came to bathe. Birds of prey get most of their water from the food they eat, but bathing is essential to keep their feather sin good condition and free from parasites. Sometimes stoats just stopped by to play and splash in the water.
A place to hunt
With so many animals flocking to the pond, predators follow and life gets played out here in all of its beauty and pain. Like the sparrowhawk catching a unsuspecting song thrush and drowning it in the water, or tawny owls snatching rats as they arrive to drink. Nature can be harsh but these predators also have young to feed. Now a part of the landscape My pond is now a vital part of the landscape and the wildlife here has come to rely on what it offers. In times of drought, when streams run dry, this pond endures - a reminder to us all that the environment and those that live in it are precious.
