Work rota

Hopefully next week we’ll start work managing this year’s ponds. There’s no dredging scheduled this year but it is still helpful to get in there before the soil gets too wet and the pond water levels rise. Although the heat of summer already feels like a distant memory and we’ve had a lot of rain recently soil moisture remains not far above the annual minimum.

We’ve 5 ponds on the rota – most are routine maintenance to keep the woody growth under control but we have one site (the Jubilee pit) where the ponds were planted up with trees in 1977 and some light touch restoration will benefit the rare plants that have taken up residence there. The Jubilee pit is only 20m from a wood so the aim will be to retain some trees there to keep that connection.

The aim is to open up the ponds to light and air and avoid too many leaves entering the pond – here’s a photo of a pond that needs the scrub trimming: