Scraping the pond

My landlord has asked me to clear the pond weed from the pond in the front garden.

The lesson to be learned from this experience is; do NOT get a pond unless you want a lot of time spent in soul destroying work getting rid of this horrible scum.

First off though, it is pretty obvious that the ducks have been back again :)

(it'll be slightly sad when the scum is gone and I won't be able to see evidence of their visits any more)

So the process of cleaning the pond is to get a fish net and sweep it carefully across the surface (these weeds do not have long roots and just float on the surface of the water). Following is a set of three action shot style :)

Don't you love my wellies :)

One of the biggest challenges I had was the fact I was picking up LOADS of water snails and couldn't avoid them at all... if anyone has any hints / tips as to how to avoid killing off all the wildlife during this process please leave a comment..

After about 2 hours I got bored and went inside to relax however I have just got back from a weekend walking in the lakes and I must have made some difference because the pond is looking a LOT clearer:

This could, of course, have been caused by the high winds and rain here right now...