Jim Storey writes:

We’ve got a fantastic, free event for the public to celebrate International Biodiversity Day on 22 May. It’s in conjuction with the national, Lottery-funded OPAL Project and will be an exciting ‘hands on event’. The many and varied groups attending will be showing visitors what they do to help look after the environment. We hope this will inspire more people to enjoy and care about their local environment.

There will be activities to enjoy from

• Fleet Pond Society
• Hart District Council Rangers
• The Environment Agency
• Imperial College
• University College London
• Hampshire Wildlife Trust
• Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership
• Fleet to Aldershot Wildlife Watch
• The Friends of Brickfields Country Park
• Hampshire Ornithological Society
• Butterfly Conservation
• The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)

Activities are centred around the Picnic Area but there’s also stuff to do at Sandy Bay and Boathouse Corner (see map here).

At 2pm there will be a guided walk from the main car park in which visitors can find out about the exciting happenings at the Pond over the past thousand years.

The event runs from 11am to 4pm at Fleet Pond Nature Reserve which is next to Fleet’s mainline station and 5mins from Junction 4a of the M3.

The reserve centres around Hampshire’s largest freshwater lake which has important reedbeds, marshes as well as lowland dry heathland.

Jim Storey writes:

“Parts of our nature reserve are not now classified as in an horrendous state, but a major part still is! So we still have a long way to go – which is what our Clearwater Campaign is about.

Up to this year Natural England had always classified Fleet Pond as one SSSI unit and that it was 95% deteriorated and still deteriorating. We and the Rangers had felt this did not take account of the significant work done by FPS volunteers and the Ranger Service to upgrade the wetland (reedbeds and marshes) and heathland and return them to high grade SSSI status. Natural England has now divided Fleet Pond reserve into units so that each of the habitats can each be assessed on their own merit. The wetlands and heaths are now classified as “deteriorated but improving” (it takes several years for our habitat work to show full effect) but the Pond itself remains 95% deteriorated and worsening.

This has two implications: first we should now be concentrating efforts on restoring SSSI quality to the Pond. It also means that unless we do restore the  Pond it will eventually have serious impact on the “improving” nature of the wetlands. They rely on the Pond both for saturation levels but also to deter intrusion and disturbance. The improving wetland habitat therefore remains at risk if the Pond continues to deteriorate.

So what does this mean? We can’t rest on our laurels and need to keep on top of managing the heathland and wetland habitats. And we need to ramp up efforts to improve the state of the Pond itself. This is what our Clearwater Campaign is all about and we’ll keep you in touch with how that progresses.

Here’s a brochure (Clearwater-Side-1, Clearwater-Side-2) to help you understand more of the situation.

We have also tried to answer any questions you might have, see here. If you have any additional queries please do not hesitate to get in touch, either by leaving a comment on this post or else directly contacting Colin Gray (details in About page above).”

For further information on the environmental status of Fleet Pond, see the Natural England site here (see also picture above taken from this site). A previous post on a depth survey of Fleet Pond is also very illuminating.

Regarding Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs):

SSSIs are the country’s very best wildlife and geographical sites. They include some of the most spectacular and beautiful habitats; wetlands teeming with wading birds, winding chalk rivers, flower-rich meadows, windswept shingle beaches and remote upland peat bogs. There are over 4,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in England, covering around 7% of the country’s land area.

Colin Gray writes:

“At Chestnut Grove the rangers were asked to reopen that ditch that Adam and I sealed off.  I have explained to the rangers why we sealed it. The area however now looks a mess and the open aspect has been allowing people and dogs to access the reedbed.

Our job will be to put up post and rail fencing around that corner, tidy up the soil pile (probably just level it off a bit) and tidy the vegetation to allow the bramble to return as a natural barrier.  There should be enough timber at the workshop for a fence and we must try to make a nice neat job given the rather random selection of posts available.”

As you can see, a good job was done!

Picture credit: Michelle Salter.

Jim Storey writes:

We recently organised a very successful meeting with the organisations who have an interest in seeing the Pond brought back to its former glory. Hart District Council kindly hosted and attended, together with their Rangers Service. Natural England, the body with the oversight of our natural habitats came along as well as the local Environment Agency Conservation team, who lead on fisheries. The Wildlife and Wetlands Trust also sent a representative as the Pond is the kind of habitat they want to see thriving.

The aim of the meeting was to hear from Aquatic Engineering, a well-established ecological consultancy. They come highly recommended by the Environment Agency who they’ve worked with on restoring several major, water-based habitats. They’re just finishing a job off on the Serpentine for the Royal Parks. They and their partners, Ecosulis, are keen to help us move forward with a sustainable solution for the Pond. And they have offered some of their time pro bono.

Working On The Serpentine

They explained to us about solutions that are now available to reuse much of the unwanted silt that would come from dredging the Pond. We could create some new ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ reedbeds as well as a more permanent version of the ‘tern islands’. Of course any solution would need to cope with any further inflow of silt and detritus through the Gelvert and Brookly Streams. And there’s quite a science to creating reedbeds to cope with these pressures, as well as Canada Geese, if we want to attract wildfowl back in large numbers. Wouldn’t it be great to hear Bitterns booming again – that’s quite possible.

A Restored Bracknell Mill Pond

A Healthy Reedbed Corridor – Bitterns Love Them!

We were all very impressed with what Aquatic Engineering showed us. They agreed to take their ideas a little further so we can get an idea of the cost of the possible  ways forward. We look forward to being able to share these ideas further with local people so they can give us their views, and very importantly, their support.

Photo credits: Glyn Onione

Nick Keeley writes:

Fleet Pond, Hampshire’s largest freshwater lake, has a long history dating back to the Middle Ages, when it was the fishery for the Priory at Winchester. In 1954 the pond and its reedbeds, fens and dry heathland was one of the first nature reserves to be granted Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status. Now it is silting up badly because of local developments and is in danger of losing its SSSI status, possibly even disappearing completely. Imagine Fleet without its pond!

Over the next few years Fleet Pond’s Clearwater campaign needs to raise significant amounts of money to stop Fleet Pond silting up and losing its SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) status.  I am asking you to sponsor my bike ride to Liverpool and back this summer. As I will be riding alone, and carrying all my clothing in two panniers on the bike, I don’t need any back-up vehicles so all money raised will go to the Clearwater campaign.

Why to Liverpool?  I have quite a lot of family in Liverpool and two years ago I celebrated my retirement by cycling 250 miles to Liverpool. I was a bit over-ambitious by trying to do over 50 miles a day, regardless of the many hills on the way. This was evident in the last sentences of my diary. ”If I talk about doing this again, please lock me in a pub and throw away the key. Never again, well at least not into a head wind and not over those same hills.” Obviously suffering from memory loss, this winter I decided to do it again, adding a return journey, but at a more modest 40 miles a day.

I plan to go to Liverpool via Reading, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Lichfield, then up the Trent Valley, over to Cheshire and by ferry across the Mersey to Liverpool. I will then spend a day or so resting and visiting family. I will ride back through Cheshire to Ironbridge, Evesham, the Cotswolds and finally back to Fleet.  I expect the round trip of about 500 miles to take about two weeks and I will set off sometime in July or August, depending on weather prospects.

Please, therefore, sponsor me. The best way is online via www.charitygiving.co.uk/nickkeeley.  If you are a UK taxpayer and fill in the Gift Aid declaration a few more pounds can be reclaimed by us from the tax authorities.  This is by far the best way for the Society, as it saves us having to write to people to collect you sponsorship after the ride.

Alternatively, you can send me a cheque, payable to Fleet Pond Society together with your address and email address.  Your cheque will not be cashed until after the ride and will be returned if the ride does not take place.  Your email address will enable me to let you know how the ride goes. Thanks very much.

Nick Keeley, 12 Chestnut Grove, Fleet, GU51 3LW n.keeley@ntlworld.com