Renovation 9.

Although Rob and I did some work over the winter, trimming the edges of the liner and placing edging stones, the next pic was taken on 4th March 2016 after a light snow.

You can see the pond now clearly delineated, and the gill nets dragged by ice and snow onto the surface of the pond. But all is well.
To the bottom right you can just see the stone fire pit where I make paellas in the warmer months on a wood fire.

Renovation 8.

It was 3rd November 2016 before Rob and I reconvened. You can see in the photo above that there is now about a foot of water in the pond. This rise in level was due to rain and to ground water pumped up from the well. We had stretched gill nets over the pond to protect the fish from herons.

Our work that day consisted principally in collecting soil to build up the two new banks, after their original level had settled.

Renovation 7.

At last the day came for us to put the new liner in place, laying on top of the old one. This was on 23rd October 2015. 

In the photo above you can see a large object in the pond. This was an old plant tub made of durable plastic and which Rob had opened the bottom of, intending it to be a refuge for the fish.

Once the liner was in place we were able to empty three water butts of rain water, and pump the contents of a well into the pond; in all, about 1000 litres. We put back the five goldfish which had survived the herons' visits, together with large clumps of the oxygenating weed.

At the end of the day there was about 8 inches of water in the bottom of the pond, and within minutes of being introduced the fish were enthusiastically exploring every inch of their new habitat.