I've just finished pond number three! Well, sort of. Originally I was going to put a bog garden at one end and a raised hibernaculum for amphibians (rocks, logs raised bed type thing), but time ran out.
The pond is a preformed shell 500L I got from freecycle (free), and it was more difficult to install than I expected. The end where the hibernaculum will be I found a bumblebee nest under some old plant trays (rough grass area), and the other end I was fed up with digging so that will come later.
Because where it is sometimes floods a bit, I decided to raise it a bit. The soil is so bad, this means I have been able to add a better layer of soil, supported by rocks, with a planting bed all round. I couldn't resist a scabious I saw yesterday. It wass literally buzzing with bumblebees. In fact I was walking around the nursery with one!
I'm afraid it looks pretty artificial at the moment, but I've planted lots in the hope it willl soon soften.
I made the decision that all the plants in the water will be natives, so no canadian pond weed. So far I have managed to keep the azolla out of it, and I'm being careful not to transfer any sticklebacks. I still have some tadpoles, so some of them and some newt tadpoles have gone in.