Section 3.d. "Smaller-Scale Rewilding: A Practical Guide to Restoring Nature in Your Own Space"

The latest section of LettsSafari's guide to smaller-scale rewilding: 'Creating Microhabitats for Rewilding: Waterways, Ponds, and Wetland Features.'

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Creating Microhabitats for Rewilding: Waterways, Ponds, and Wetland Features

Water is life - even a small amount can radically boost the biodiversity of a rewilding project. Many larger-scale rewilding sites have natural rivers or wetlands, but on a small scale these often have to be created or simulated because a tiny plot might not include a pond or stream naturally. Adding a pond or wetland area is one of the single best things you can do for wildlife in a small space.

Life on a pond could amaze you.

LettsSafari highlights that while big rewilding assumes natural waterways flow through, smaller-scale rewilding usually needs to create them artificially (like digging a pond or having water features), since small sites rarely come with a pre-existing water source.

A wildlife pond can be as modest as a sunken tub or as large as an excavated pond of several meters across. The key is that it has shallow sloping edges (for creatures to get in/out and for marginal plants) and no fish if the goal is amphibians (fish eat tadpoles). If you have the space, aim for at least a couple of metres in diameter and at least ~50-60 cm deep at one point so it holds water year-round. This will attract frogs, toads, and newts for breeding - these amphibians often struggle in urban areas due to lack of ponds, so providing one is a huge boon.

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Even very small ponds (the size of a bowl or half-barrel) have benefits: they’ll attract dragonflies and aquatic insects, and serve as drinking/bathing spots for birds and hedgehogs. In fact, research shows even tiny “tub ponds” or micro-wetlands can help amphibians in hot weather to cool off and hydrate.

To create a pond, you can use a flexible liner or a pre-formed liner, or even repurpose an old container. Surround it with native marginal plants like marsh marigold, water mint, iris, rushes - these provide cover and perching spots.

If a pond isn’t feasible, a bog garden (waterlogged soil area) is second best. Ideally add both! You can mimic a wetland by digging a shallow depression, lining it to hold water but poking some holes so it stays soggy but not a pool. Plant with sedges, marsh marigolds, and let rain keep it wet (or add water occasionally). Frogs and insects often enjoy bogs similarly.

Another water feature is a simple stream or rill if you have flowing water from a rain downspout - some rewilders channel their gutter downpipe into a little streamlet that runs into a pond or wet bed, creating a dynamic water flow during rains. This can simulate a brook habitat (with little pebbles, etc.) albeit intermittently. LettsSafari mentions constructing a three-tier water system in their demonstration garden: a pond flowing to bog garden to a wet swale over grass. This kind of design ensures no water is wasted - it filters through successive wet habitats, each supporting different species.

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The presence of water will bring a cascade of life: dragonflies and damselflies will come to breed (their aquatic larvae are important predators of mosquitoes, etc.), water beetles and bugs (diving beetles, water striders), not to mention providing a breeding site for frogs, toads, and newts which in turn eat garden pests like slugs. Birds will visit to drink and bathe - you may find your little pond becomes the local “watering hole” for sparrows, finches, and even foxes at night. If you plant flowering plants around it, you’ll also get pollinators.

And moist soil near water allows things like snails, worms, and some specialised plants (like loosestrife, meadowsweet) to flourish, adding to botanical diversity.

Wetland soils also capture carbon efficiently (wet meadows and fens are carbon sinks because of slow decomposition). Plus, a pond can help with local drainage - capturing rainwater runoff that might otherwise cause puddling elsewhere, and slowly releasing it or letting it percolate. In community settings, building wetlands in parks helps filter pollutants from runoff (nature’s water treatment).

One important consideration: safety, if open to small children (one might need shallow design or fencing if public). But in a private garden with supervision, the benefits usually outweigh risks, and shallow edges mitigate danger.

The incredible lake in Exeter’s Capability Brown gardens - it sits on a man made soil platform dug onto Haldon Hill!!

Maintenance of ponds is generally low if they’re balanced. Some key tips: don’t overstock with plants - let some open water remain. Remove excess blanketweed or algae if it smothers the pond (this often stabilises after the first year or two). Avoid adding tap water frequently (it can add nutrients); using rainwater is better to avoid algal blooms. Every few years, you might need to scoop some accumulated silt or cut back rampant plants to keep a variety (do this in winter to minimise disturbance to wildlife).

But overall, a well-designed wildlife pond largely takes care of itself, becoming a mini-ecosystem with predators (dragonfly larvae) and prey balancing out.

Beyond ponds, any water feature helps, even a birdbath or a damp hessian sack in summer for butterflies to drink. However, nothing quite substitutes the full life a pond brings. Amphibians especially have “breeding site fidelity” - they will keep coming back to the same pond each year to lay eggs, so once you establish a population, you’re a crucial part of their life cycle long-term.