Digging flight pond

bradstalk

Well-Known Member
Hi all, a bit random but does anyone on here have any experience on making a new flight pond for ducking? I have permission to do so on a small price of land within a mile of the local reservoir but the land sits around half way up a gentle slopping field. The ground lays quite wet so gathering it has a sensible clay content, my queries are will it dry up in summer and will rain water alone be enough to fill it up initially. Thanks :D
 
i have got planning permission for large ponds and lakes before. depends how you want to go about it.
 
i have got planning permission for large ponds and lakes before. depends how you want to go about it.

Hi was only looking for a small pond/ splash for personal sport but will check with planning to keep it legit, from what I found online they're not to bothered if it's a small pond??
 
Hi was only looking for a small pond/ splash for personal sport but will check with planning to keep it legit, from what I found online they're not to bothered if it's a small pond??
the last one we did came under engineering works. i am not sure what the cut off point is?
 
Crack on and get it dug out I seriously wouldn't bother with the legal beagles if its a small pond ,Suprising what you can shift with a 3 ton digger but if you've never operated plant before then I'd advise caution not just safety but an experienced op can make the job go so much more smoothly and do more in a day than a newby will shift in a week .good luck
norma
 
Crack on and get it dug out I seriously wouldn't bother with the legal beagles if its a small pond ,Suprising what you can shift with a 3 ton digger but if you've never operated plant before then I'd advise caution not just safety but an experienced op can make the job go so much more smoothly and do more in a day than a newby will shift in a week .good luck
norma

Iv got a mate who shots with me who has a 3 tonne digger and drives it for a living so no probs there :D Just hope it holds water and ducks! Cheers norma
 
Think there will be info on either GWCT or BASC sites, no idea wot the craic is with getting permission of sEPA/EPA? i usually just go in and dig them got another to dig this year and got my sights on a 2nd site too just got to get permission of the farmer/landowner now.
Be plenty of advise on those sites but often diger drives make the sides far too steep trying to get the pond too deep, i'd just have it very shallow the whole pond with very gradual sloping sides

Probably impossible for someone to guess without seeing ur ground, if the field is sloping and wettish i'd imagine will have a field drain system, possibly if u can dig down and tap into a main drain or 2 to feed it and block it to stop it getting away. I take it there is no nearby burns u can divert/pipe some water in to pond.

Even if it does dry up in summer not a big problem had some cracking sport shooting flooded field splashes in the past
 
Think there will be info on either GWCT or BASC sites, no idea wot the craic is with getting permission of sEPA/EPA? i usually just go in and dig them got another to dig this year and got my sights on a 2nd site too just got to get permission of the farmer/landowner now.
Be plenty of advise on those sites but often diger drives make the sides far too steep trying to get the pond too deep, i'd just have it very shallow the whole pond with very gradual sloping sides

Probably impossible for someone to guess without seeing ur ground, if the field is sloping and wettish i'd imagine will have a field drain system, possibly if u can dig down and tap into a main drain or 2 to feed it and block it to stop it getting away. I take it there is no nearby burns u can divert/pipe some water in to pond.

Even if it does dry up in summer not a big problem had some cracking sport shooting flooded field splashes in the past

Thanks for the advice, I was planning on keeping it shallow with sloping edges as you say and Il have a look on them sites. Prob will just dig it anyways!! As for the main drains I'm not aware of any and don't even know what burns are I'm afraid! I think your right with the field drain system as there is a stream at bottom of field in the woods. I was only worried about it drying up as the owners were conceded about it looking like a wallow! Cheers
 
I have spent the last 8 years trying to get splashes right for duck. Had the advantage of being on a flood plain next to a river so was able to build a bund and sluice at one end of the field to manage levels. I did get permission from the EA as officially you are trapping/holding water and even if it does fall out of the sky they seem to own it.

For teal you want to keep it 6" to 9" deep. Mallard prefer something a bit deeper, more like 18" plus, but they do flight into my teal splashes. If you are on a slope just pile the spoil on the downhill side. If it's not clay then buy some in and then put some cattle in there to tread it down for a few weeks.

Do you have any way of channeling water into it? Land drains? Is there a concrete yard or buildings you can channel the rainwater from? I think you are likely to need a source if it is going to be successful.

I have also played with feed for the past few years. No substitute I have found for Barley and the more you feed it the more duck come in strangely enough. I now feed 3 splashes, each 20 meters by 10 meters, about 100kg each per week from end September (we don't start shooting them until end October). Shoot every 2 weeks at high tide in the estuary and we get bags of 10 to 20 birds, sometimes a few more.

If Grouse shooting is the sport of Kings then Teal shooting is, IMHO, the sport of Gods. There is little more challenging than a good night on the Teal.
 
I have spent the last 8 years trying to get splashes right for duck. Had the advantage of being on a flood plain next to a river so was able to build a bund and sluice at one end of the field to manage levels. I did get permission from the EA as officially you are trapping/holding water and even if it does fall out of the sky they seem to own it.

For teal you want to keep it 6" to 9" deep. Mallard prefer something a bit deeper, more like 18" plus, but they do flight into my teal splashes. If you are on a slope just pile the spoil on the downhill side. If it's not clay then buy some in and then put some cattle in there to tread it down for a few weeks.

Do you have any way of channeling water into it? Land drains? Is there a concrete yard or buildings you can channel the rainwater from? I think you are likely to need a source if it is going to be successful.

I have also played with feed for the past few years. No substitute I have found for Barley and the more you feed it the more duck come in strangely enough. I now feed 3 splashes, each 20 meters by 10 meters, about 100kg each per week from end September (we don't start shooting them until end October). Shoot every 2 weeks at high tide in the estuary and we get bags of 10 to 20 birds, sometimes a few more.

If Grouse shooting is the sport of Kings then Teal shooting is, IMHO, the sport of Gods. There is little more challenging than a good night on the Teal.


Sound advice thank you, depths planning and sizes all very helpful, as for channeling water I wouldn't know how to find a land drain and the closest and only building is the owners house which is around 250 yards away so could possibly run rain water from gutters if that would suffice. ( who have no problem with shooting close to house) I used to have a flight pond and barley was all I used and they loved it! Cheers
 
If it is in clay, you will probably find tile land drains at least 3 feet down and spaced at 6 to 11 yards apart. Any wet patches will probably be due to blocked drains. Make sure you dig them all out so that they cannot drain your pond in summer. Drains were put in over the last 2-300 years and they were often re-done from time to time as the outlets choked, due to not being maintained. My first pond uncovered 3 distinct drainage systems down to 8 feet deep.
 
Keep the feeding area welly boot depth. Any deeper and you'll be wasting your feed. Have a deep area for when it's dry and ideally place the feeding area on far bank from the predominant wind, otherwise your food will possibly float out into the depths. I feed plenty of teal on wheat but use whatever you can easily get; overfeeding is worse than underfeeding - the same as over shooting
 
Thanks for the advice, I was planning on keeping it shallow with sloping edges as you say and Il have a look on them sites. Prob will just dig it anyways!! As for the main drains I'm not aware of any and don't even know what burns are I'm afraid! I think your right with the field drain system as there is a stream at bottom of field in the woods. I was only worried about it drying up as the owners were conceded about it looking like a wallow! Cheers

Either speak to the owners or ur mate with a digger, if either of them do a lot of drainage work they will probably be able to guess where the drains are.
If not dig a small trench at 90 degrees to the slope and u should find them, lot easier if somone has some idea where they are and wot depth

Either that or get out with 2 bits of bent wire, it does actually work. No idea how the hell it does but it does

Ps Burn=stream/ ditch ;)
Possibly if u can have the pond somewhere near the burn/stream or if a burn runs above or down the side of the field and divert water into/out of it with simple pipes/channels and a simple sluice to control levels
 
Don't, in any way, divert a water course. The EA will want to interfere.

Creation of a pond is trapping water and EA will want to interfere. Went through this but because I had support of NE as part of an HLS scheme it was a pretty painless sign off.
 
Creation of a pond is trapping water and EA will want to interfere. Went through this but because I had support of NE as part of an HLS scheme it was a pretty painless sign off.

The EA have expressed no concerns about the 5+ acres of ponds that I have dug in recent years, but none of the water is 'trapped', the level just comes and goes with the water table. The is a water-course within 10 yards, but is not diverted.
 
I dug out a c 25 yard diameter flight pond on my ground. I used a prefab bentonite clay liner. You will require planning permission which requires contact with environment agency etc etc and also complete a wildlife impact survey

PM me if you want more details or want to come over and see it and the planning application and impact study I made

BTW Basc do a good booklet on making a pond Mine is working fine and now full of fish and duck during winter when I feed them in

D
 
I have spent the last 8 years trying to get splashes right for duck. Had the advantage of being on a flood plain next to a river so was able to build a bund and sluice at one end of the field to manage levels. I did get permission from the EA as officially you are trapping/holding water and even if it does fall out of the sky they seem to own it.

For teal you want to keep it 6" to 9" deep. Mallard prefer something a bit deeper, more like 18" plus, but they do flight into my teal splashes. If you are on a slope just pile the spoil on the downhill side. If it's not clay then buy some in and then put some cattle in there to tread it down for a few weeks.

Do you have any way of channeling water into it? Land drains? Is there a concrete yard or buildings you can channel the rainwater from? I think you are likely to need a source if it is going to be successful.

I have also played with feed for the past few years. No substitute I have found for Barley and the more you feed it the more duck come in strangely enough. I now feed 3 splashes, each 20 meters by 10 meters, about 100kg each per week from end September (we don't start shooting them until end October). Shoot every 2 weeks at high tide in the estuary and we get bags of 10 to 20 birds, sometimes a few more.

If Grouse shooting is the sport of Kings then Teal shooting is, IMHO, the sport of Gods. There is little more challenging than a good night on the Teal.



Agreed, the absolute pinnacle of shotgun shooting. . . Those little teal come in like streaks of lighting. And they taste so damn good.
 
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