Okay, so it wasn't really part of the original plan ... but I'm not some greedy capitalist developer, who'd just bulldoze innocent creatures out of their home.
Posting this in "Gardening" because it's part of my on-going landscaping project. This is the bottom half of a new flood-relief/irrigation water storage pond, which I'd made a start on much earlier in the year, planning to get it fully dug during Spring and Summer before the Autumn rains came. Only the Autumn rains came at the end of Spring and kept raining till mid-Summer.
At that stage, I'd dug out 30-40cm of topsoil, then dug an experimental 1m-deep trench in the middle, to see what the subsoil was like and whether or not I'd hit the water table. I did.
Couldn't do anything with it after that, as the pit filled to overflowing, and during the week of the torrential rain that flooded parts of Germany, the rest was filled as high as the base of the stone wall in the background. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my little green frog who was previously happily living in a different trench decided to move to this one, and was joined last week by another ribbiter.
Awkward! After a fine fortnight, this week was the week to get the next bit done. I had a chat with Fwoggy and Fwendy last night, and we agreed that I'd drop the level of the ground all around, but leave them with their deep hole and a bit of a beach to sunbathe on, which they can continue to enjoy until I dig them a much better pond further back.
Bit of a race against time this morning, trying to get this excavation done before the change in the weather, but completed it at 16:29. And at 16:30 on the dot (was checking the time) BANG! - a massive simultaneous flash-bang of thunder and lightning, followed seconds later by torrential rain! Not entirely convinced the relatively thin walls of the pool will have held up against that, especially if the water overtops the bank, but about to go and check.
Oh, and Fwoggy spent almost the whole time watching the excavations from different spots in his pool. I couldn't quite believe how nonchalantly he sat there as a giant metal arm swung to within 50cm of his cute little face. Any closer than 50cm and he dived away, but he kept coming back. Reminded me of the hens racing towards the churning blades of the rotavator!
. I can't think of anything I've done, except banished fellas in July, with their ferrets, who think they've a god given right to cross walls onto your property and dig holes in the ditches. 