---
title: "Wildlife Pond Planner & Checklist | Pond Mosaic"
description: "Plan a wildlife pond: size, sun and region give a printable build checklist, native plants by zone, a beach and depth drawing, and wildlife by season."
url: https://pondmosaic.me/wildlife-pond-planner/
---

Dig this winter, ready for spring

# Wildlife pond planner

How do you make a wildlife pond? Keep it **mostly shallow, with a gently sloping beach, filled with rainwater, and without fish**. The Freshwater Habitats Trust says the deepest part need be no more than 25–30 cm unless you keep fish. Enter your space for a checklist you can print.

## How to use the planner

Measure the space you have and decide how deep the deepest part will be; the planner treats the outline as an oval inside your length and width. It then builds a checklist from the Freshwater Habitats Trust and RHS advice, sizes the liner by the Trust's rule, and lists plants native to your region from our plant guide, leaving out vigorous ones for small ponds and sun lovers for shady spots.

- **Great Britain:** plants native to Great Britain, none of them on Great Britain's invasive-species lists.
- **Mainland Europe or Ireland:** the same list, but native ranges differ, so check them against your own country's flora.
- **North America:** only plants the USDA lists as native, leaving out European natives that are invasive there, such as purple loosestrife and flowering rush.

Autumn and winter are ideal for digging, and rain over the winter fills a new pond with the nutrient-poor water wildlife likes. Plant from mid-spring.

**Free wildlife pond guides and garden activity packs** are sometimes offered in exchange for an email address. A [temporary inbox from CleanTempMail](https://cleantempmail.com/), with no sign-up, receives the download link without the newsletters that follow. Download the file straight away: the inbox and its messages are deleted after three days.

If you join or donate to a wildlife charity, use your real address so you get your receipts and membership news.

## Sources

1. Freshwater Habitats Trust, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and World of Water, [Creating Garden Ponds for Wildlife](https://freshwaterhabitats.b-cdn.net/app/uploads/2023/06/Creating-Garden-Ponds_2023.pdf) (2023): deepest areas no more than 25–30 cm unless keeping fish; lots of shallow water with gently sloping edges; partial shade with plenty of sun; rainwater; fish eat frog and newt tadpoles; native plants, two or three per square metre; the liner rule; the pond calendar of wildlife by season.
2. RHS, [Wildlife ponds](https://www.rhs.org.uk/ponds/wildlife-ponds): 20–60 cm deep, at least one long shallow slope with a beach; part in full sun; rainwater; no fish; no filter; don't move spawn, water or sediment between ponds; autumn and winter ideal for digging; plant from mid-spring to early summer; pond skaters within days or weeks, damselflies and amphibians within a year.
3. National Wildlife Federation, [Backyard pond](https://www.nwf.org/Native-Plant-Habitats/Plant-Native/Habitat-Essentials/Backyard-Pond): some direct sun but not full sun at all times, a beach or ledge, plenty of native plants, a de-chlorinator for chlorinated water.
4. Native status: each plant's RHS page (see the [plant depth guide](https://pondmosaic.me/pond-plant-depth-guide/)) for Great Britain, and the [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database](https://plants.usda.gov/) for North America, checked 2 November 2026.
5. Invasive species: [USDA APHIS Federal Noxious Weed List](https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-pests-diseases/noxious-weeds) (7 CFR 360.200); [Minnesota DNR](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/laws.html); [USDA National Invasive Species Information Center](https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/subject/lists) (state lists differ); European Commission, [Invasive alien species](https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/invasive-alien-species_en) (the Union list, last updated by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1422 from 7 August 2025).

The wildlife timings are for Britain. The National Wildlife Federation's advice to add a bucket of water from a natural pond is left out, because the RHS warns that moving water between ponds can spread diseases and invasive species.

## Wildlife pond questions

**When is the best time to build a wildlife pond?**

Autumn and winter, says the RHS, so winter rain can fill it. Plant it up from mid-spring to early summer, once the water has warmed.

**How deep should a wildlife pond be?**

Mostly very shallow. The Freshwater Habitats Trust says the deepest part need be no more than 25–30 cm (1 ft) unless you keep fish; the RHS suggests depths varying between 20 and 60 cm.

**Can I fill a wildlife pond with tap water?**

Rainwater is better: tap water is usually high in nutrients that feed algae. Collect it in water butts or let the pond fill with rain; the RHS calls tap water a last resort.

**Do I need to add plants?**

No: plants arrive on their own in time. If you do plant, choose native species, about two or three plants per square metre.