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| Pond before removal of excess Brooklime |
On Saturday we held a special work party to remove some of the Brooklime from the pond. This native plant seems to have carried on growing because of the mild winter and was quickly taking over the whole pond. With frogspawn season fast approaching we really only had this weekend to rake out a proportion of it to restore a larger area of open water.
Three of our volunteers have waders and they set to with rakes to drag the Brooklime to the edge of the pond from whence it could be piled up on a nearby area of black plastic sheeting. This meant that any water creatures in the weed could escape back into the water . The plant will be left on the sheeting to rot down naturally. I had already spent some time uncovering this sheet from our previous years' efforts and the resulting compost was full of hard working worms who were doing a good job for us and would, no doubt, welcome some fresh new greens!
The black plastic is there for a particular reason. As well as the native Brooklime there is an alien species of water weed in the pond called New Zealand Pygmy weed which found its way into the reserve some years ago now, probably on the feet of water fowl. Unfortunately it can spread vigorously both in water and on damp land so should there be any amongst our rakings, without the plastic it would simply root into the soil where we dumped it. The first time we removed any from the pond the plan was to dry it out on the plastic and then burn it on site. In fact it composted down very quickly and there was nothing left to burn! Interestingly, I have noticed that our annual pond maintenance on this one area of the pond is keeping it in check in the water, whereas on the side of the pond which has never been cleared it continues to proliferate. On land among the rushes it is a different story however and in places there are patches of it looking green and mossy round the edge of the pond.
The presence of the Pygmy Weed means we have to adopt very strict bio-security measures when working in and around the pond. At the end of the session all tools, including the wheelbarrows were thoroughly washed down. Then it was the turn of the volunteers to clean their waders firstly in buckets of water then, to make extra sure, water was poured over the soles too. Given the very low level of water in the pond at present ( see previous Blog post) waders were a tad OTT perhaps but they kept the volunteers clean and warm so were worthwhile.
There is still plenty of weed left for the frogs and for water fowl such as Moorhens and the Water Rail in other areas of the pond
Myself and fellow committee member, Margaret, were there as supporting cast to our three "stars". A big thank you is due to Margaret for providing us with refreshments at the end of the session and for moving the pile of brambles by the gate in anticipation of a delivery to the reserve, of which more on another occasion.
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| Rakes at the ready |
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| dragging the Brooklime to the edge |
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| lest anyone be tempted to take some home to their own pond! |
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| washing down the waders |
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| making doubly sure |
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weed cleared from the water on the left means open water once more.
The "mudflat" in the foreground is usually below water level but a
dry January ( nothing to do with alcohol!)
and possibly other factors have left it exposed. |
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| the birthday candle is for volunteer Richard! |
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| birthday boy about to eat his cake |
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| relaxing after a job well done |
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| Margaret, our cake maker extraordinaire ! |
A very big thank you to everyone who helped today.
