Animals Splashing: Do Garden Ponds Draw Wildlife? | Live Q&A | Discover Wildlife | Robert E Fuller

See badgers, foxes, stoats, owls and kestrels enjoy a splash in my wildlife ponds and learn why a pond is an important water source for wildlife.

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WATER IS A KEY WILDLIFE DRAW
Wildlife needs food and shelter, but they also need water to drink and bathe in. Fotherdale is located high on the Yorkshire Wolds where the landscape is made up of dry valleys and there are very few natural water sources here. So in order to draw wildlife, I have dug nine ponds of varying sizes here.
WATCH THE CONSTRUCTION OF STONE TROUGH
Stone trough is one of my bigger ponds. It is made from a fibre glass liner and is located along a hedgerow, a natural path for passing wildlife. There are 'stepping stone's' leading into the water so the wildlife can get in and out safely and the pond is a part of a stone wall, where there are plenty of hiding places for smaller wildlife like weasels, stoats and even mice.
SEE THE ANIMALS THAT SPLASH HERE
And it is a real magnet for wildlife. I love watching the creatures that come to drink and bathe in my wildlife pond. My cameras are located opposite and I've filmed badgers, a fox vixen, barn owls - and even a vole swimming across it. Stoats also swim in this pond and long-tailed tits and blue tits gather here in noisy flocks to drink.
IN WINTER THE POND IS AN ICE RINK
When the pond freezes over in winter birds walk across it's surface to drink in the far corner, which, being against a hedgerow, is usually nearly always frost-free. Take a look at my clips of fieldfares and a pheasant with unusual colours crossing this ice rink.
AN OWL POOL
The pond is also popular with the owls and kestrels here at Fotherdale.
ARE OWL FEATHERS WATER PROOF?
Although the owls and kestrels bathe here often, especially when they are sitting on chicks and need to clean their feathers, these birds don't have as much water-proofing in the oily glands that they preen themselves with. This is mainly because in order to fly silently, their feathers are soft and quite downy. I've had to help kestrels too wet to fly back to their chicks on the nest after diving down into wet grass too often. For this reason my ponds have shallow parts where they can just dip in to the water.

#wildlifeponds #wildlifehabitats #robertefuller

About Me: I am a British wildlife artist based in Thixendale, North Yorkshire, UK. I build ideal habitats to encourage wildlife into my garden and use nest cams to study their behaviour. These studies inform my paintings. I share the best of my video research on this channel for free. If you would like to support my work please consider a small donation here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=A52ZHAMJZC3J4

Or of course you may like to purchase my artwork which you will find on my website: https://www.robertefuller.com. Many of the paintings are portraits of the creatures you watch here!

© Robert E Fuller

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