First, we took a sample of the pond water. We found lots of small creatures which were a good sign, but there was also some duckweed and fallen leaves. Mr. Howard suggested that we rake off the top of the pond to remove the duckweed and dispose of any leaves because they were causing nutrients to build up in the water and encouraging algae and invasive duckweed to grow. Part of our pond is also overgrown with reeds, and since we are trying to preserve it as an educational facility, it would not be good to have the whole pond covered. We will just pull up any reeds which grow too far to keep them from spreading too much.
We also showed Mr. Howard our hide, which is used for observing wildlife near the pond. We were very excited at the suggestion of making a floating bird feeder to place on the water. In the future, we would like to spend a meeting in the hide, recording any wildlife that we can see. We will then compare these reports to reports from past years.
As for new projects, one suggestion was that we use coir matting to put around the edge of the pond. This is a matting which is planted with native aquatic plants, and it is useful because these plants will use up the nutrients in the pond before the duckweed can grow back.
| Mr. Howard's website: http://www.wildlife-man.co.uk/about.html |
