Cathy Holden writes:

Funding for the upkeep of the pond is an ongoing problem and so the society was thrilled to receive a £1,000 donation from the Conservation Foundation.

It came about through Jo Howard, an employee of O2 who lives in Fleet and enjoys her walks around the pond. Jo spoke to our chairman, Colin Gray, regarding making a bid under the O2 ‘It’s Your Community’ scheme for a grant from the Conservation Foundation. They decided that the repair of the pathway between the Gelvert Stream and Coldstream Glade would be an ideal project (see map on About page above for locations).  Jo submitted the idea and was thrilled when the Foundation agreed to donate £1,000 to the Society to buy the materials required for the job, with Hart District Council making up the shortfall of £375.

However, not satisfied with just organising the funding, Jo also arranged a group of fellow employees from O2 to provide the labour!

So on a sunny morning in May about 16 keen volunteers from O2, along with several members of Fleet Pond Society and the Hart Council Rangers responsible for the nature reserve gathered at the site.  The rangers had already marked out where the edges of the footpath were to be, so the first job was to dig a trench either side of the pathway for the wooden supports to go in. Following on from this, nineteen tonnes of a mixture of sand and stone had to be shovelled onto the liner and raked out to within one inch of the top of the wooden planks on each side of the path.  This was very hard work but everyone got down to it with much light-hearted banter.

Picture: Spreading The Sand And Stones

During the morning we stopped work whilst the photographer from O2 got everyone organised for a photo of the presentation of the cheque (picture at the very top). After this, lunch beckoned and people drifted off to spots around the pond to eat their sandwiches, or to enjoy lunch at a local pub.

Picture: Doing Some Flattening!

Once lunch was over it was back to laying the last of the sand and stone mixture, after which it was compacted with the flattening machine – which everyone wanted a go at (picture above).  This was followed by the top dressing of gravel, which also had to be raked to a very smooth finish and compacted (picture below). As well as the pathway the team filled a few of the large dips in the track leading around from Coldstream Glade towards the field.

Picture: On Goes The Gravel

The Society and Rangers would like to thank Jo Howard and her O2 team for their work and initiative on this project and the Conservation Foundation for their generosity.  It was very hard going, but everyone put their backs into it and the enthusiasm and laughter throughout the day made the task seem all the lighter. Many of the visitors enjoying a walk round the pond in the sunshine stopped to chat and were very impressed and appreciative of the hard work being put in by the volunteer team.

Picture credits: Cathy Holden

Picture: At The End Of The Day

In case you have not yet heard, the Secretary of State followed the Inspector’s recommendation to dismiss the appeal.

The summary of the conclusions is here and the full details can be found here.

For local press reporting of this decision (Get Hampshire) see here.

Please note that this is unlikely to be the end of the story.  The appellant has the right to challenge her decision and, she says, should the applicant come up with a more acceptable design including open space on site she might be minded to be more sympathetic.

For background, please see the earlier blog post ‘Fleet Pond Nature Reserve Under Threat‘.

Picture credit here.

Peter Martin writes:

With a wingspan of about one inch (25 mm) and rather dowdy colouring, you may find this butterfly rather difficult to spot. At Fleet Pond, it is more likely to be seen on the Dry Heath or along the footpath that borders it. Its wings are a very pale golden colour, with the exception of the hindwing undersides which are shades of both pale and dark grey. The forewings have small “eye” spots close to the tips. When settled they sit with their wings closed and may even tuck their forewings behind their hindwings, which helps them to blend in with their surroundings.

Green or yellow eggs are laid singly on meadow grass and fescues during June. After a fortnight, the green caterpillars emerge and normally feed on the grass tips at night. The best way to see them is to check grassy areas with a torch during the hours of darkness – a task only likely to be tackled by keen entomologists!

The caterpillars, while still fairly small, hibernate during the winter, although they may feed on very mild days. After resumption of normal feeding in the spring, they pupate by late April and emerge towards the end of May or early June. This brood flies until early July.

There is a second brood that results from over-wintering eggs that can be seen flying during August and September. I have normally seen only one or two Small Heath butterflies at Fleet Pond but, when leading a “guided walk” there in 2005, I was surprised to see a group of five flying around each other, making the most of the sunshine. They have a rather “drunken” pattern of flight, which may help you to identify them.

Male butterflies establish a territory by perching on the ground and waiting for a female to come along. If another male comes into the territory, they engage in prolonged aerial battles to claim possession. Generally, the larger-winged butterfly wins and the smaller flies off to establish another territory.

If you see a female flying back and forth over a fairly small area of ground, she may be trying to gain the interest of a perching male. Having attracted her mate, the female lands and the male advances with a series of head butts. After mating, the female avoids other male territories. When laying her eggs, the first hundred or so are green, but the later ones are yellow. We do not know why this change of colour takes place.

Visit the blog in July for information about the Small Tortoiseshell.

Peter Martin acted as author for a booklet entitled “Blackwater Valley Butterflies” which contains photographs of all 32 species found in this area together with information about their life cycles. Copies are available for £2.50 plus £1.00 p.p. from Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, Ash Lock Cottage, Government Road, Aldershot, Hants, GU11 2PS. (Cheques should be made payable to B.V.C.P.).

Picture credit here.

Joanna Lawrence writes:

Summer at Fleet Pond is in full swing now that our cows have arrived on Wood Lane Heath.  The cows, from Miller’s Ark Farm near Odiham, are young males and go by the names Lynx, Lego and Lucas.

They are here to do the important job of eating the Purple Moor grass and the birch saplings which if left would take over on the heath to the detriment of important heathland species such as heather.  This section of heathland habitat is currently in great condition, as shown in botanical and invertebrate surveys that were carried out last summer which came up with some very positive results.  This is largely due to the grazing programme that has been running here since 2004.  Grazing is the traditional form of management for managing heathlands and it also reduces the need for manual management.

The cows are very used to people passing by, but we ask that all dogs be kept on leads when passing through the heath.  There is also plenty of food for them to eat so please do not feed them!

We would also like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those “lookers” who keep a close eye on the cattle for us, it’s very much appreciated!

If there are any problems with the cattle, please contact the following numbers;

Miller’s Ark Graziers:  01256 701847

Hart Countryside Service Rangers:  01252 623443
Or e-mail; countryside@hart.gov.uk

Picture: Results of Bathymetric Survey of Fleet Pond

Colin Gray writes:

OPAL, the Open Air Laboratories network is an exciting new initiative supported by The Big Lottery Fund. OPAL is encouraging people to get back in touch with nature. A wide range of projects is planned. The first survey that encouraged anyone with an interest in nature to participate, in February 2009, asked people to survey the variety of earthworms that could be found close to their homes, in the garden, local park or nature reserve.

An OPAL sponsored nation-wide survey started in November 2008 by University College London is looking at lakes and ponds in the UK and Fleet Pond was chosen as representative of lakes in the South East. Water quality, level of siltation, fish species and chemical analysis are all being studied.

OPAL has produced a bathymetric survey of Fleet Pond which depicts water depths in graphic form (see picture above). This shows very clearly just how serious the silt situation has become. Nowhere over the 52 acres (21 hectares) is the depth more than 0.82 metres. Large areas are less than 0.5 metres. Work to address this situation is urgent if we are not to lose over a third of the pond and to put the nature reserve at risk of losing SSSI notification.

To learn what you can do to help or to find more about OPAL visit their website here, send an e-mail here or phone 020 7942 5894.