Ponds attract frogs, toads, newts and all kinds of insects such as caddis flies, pondskaters, whirlygigg beetles and dragonflies to your garden.

Ponds don’t have to be big – an old basin sunk into the ground with a scattering of stones on the bottom will do the job. Put a (native) pond plant or two in, which helps to oxygenate the water, as well as providing a breeding area for pond insects. Make sure there is a slope of some kind so animals such as hedgehogs can escape if they fall in.

Best advice is that fish and frogs don’t go well together. Well maybe not generally, but in our garden the frogspawn survives in the fishpond because it is laid amongst the plants, where the fish can’t get. However, we built a separate pond to transfer the frogspawn into, because of concerns about the frogs bringing disease (parasites) into the pond.

Site your pond away from trees in a sunny position.

Check it regularly for duckweed and blanket weed, both of which can quickly clog it up. Both of these can go on the compost heap when you remove them.