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I have just dug ( with an excavator ) a really big pond, it is holding the water, but i would the water to come a little further up the bank, i am thinking of lining it with clay ( spread with the excavator ) any tips please?

Hi and welcome to the forum. I can't help with tips re lining a pond with clay though! have you lined the rest of it with clay?

There's a thread here somewhere about creating ponds with clay v. liner. I'll see if I can't find it - not sure whether it will help or not.

Here it is

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... clay+liner

Millymollymandy wrote:Hi and welcome to the forum. I can't help with tips re lining a pond with clay though! have you lined the rest of it with clay?

There's a thread here somewhere about creating ponds with clay v. liner. I'll see if I can't find it - not sure whether it will help or not.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't lined it at all, when I dug it I reached blue clay on the bottom

Does your pond have a feed? a ditch etc? How do your levels shape up with other features of the ground your working on?

What has your rainfall been like in the last few weeks and what are soil conditions like before the blue clay eg. Topsoil depths?

Clay lining is a great way to seal up your pond although you need alot more clay than you'd imagine, a good barrier should be quality clay and a minimum of 6inches.
An experienced excavator driver is more than capable of applying said clay, make sure you ram it in well with the bucket tho and try not to use a toothed one!
The only good thing about where i live ground conditions wise is you can make a decent pond, we have 2 inches of topsoil then sandy clay leading to blue clay.
Do consider all the above points though, sometimes you just have to accept that water will do its own thing :)