All posts by David Pottinger

North East Reserves At The Pond

Conservation, Volunteering

2013-12-03_HIWWT NERT

The North East Reserves Team at the Pond

Rachel Jones writes:

“A fantastic turn out from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) North East Reserves Team Tuesday group.

A huge thank you for your efforts, clearing storm damage branches in the car park edges and then attacking the birch encroachment on the dry heath land.

Volunteer John got an impressive fire going and most of the cut scrub was burnt up and stumps treated. I found it hard to keep up the pace collecting all the cuttings! HIWWT Leader Guy kept the group under reasonable control so that they didn’t clear all the trees!

There was a keen interest in the history booklet created by Fleet Pond Society (see a sample page below and visit here for a free download) as well as maps of the pond as those who had not been before were keen to come back to walk the footpaths.”

Fleet Pond History Pamphlet p3

Sunday Volunteer Task – 8 December

Conservation, Volunteering

Colin Gray writes:

“This Sunday we will be based at the access gate to Fugelmere/Gelvert Marsh, adjacent to Sandy Bay. We plan a large bonfire to clear away as much as possible of the broken, cut and fallen debris from the storm.

Lots of branches to cut up and move to the fire site, some bracken to burn and various places from which to clear material which was cut to make damaged trees safe.

The weather forecast at the moment is reasonably good, dry if rather cloudy.

If all goes to plan there will be potatoes to bake to add to our usual fare and if anyone cares to bring other festive food please feel free to do so!”

If you would like to join us or would like to find out more information about the Fleet Pond Volunteer Group, please contact Hart Countryside Services on 01252 623443 or email countryside@hart.gov.uk

An Impressive Conservation Story: Rod Hall, MBE

People

Fleet Pond Society (FPS) is grateful to the large number of people that give funds that help us carry out projects to improve the environment at the Pond, especially the important and very successful Clearwater Campaign.

Sometimes there are interesting personal stories that are connected to this and here’s one of them.

Colin Gray, Chairman of FPS, writes:

“Rod Hall was a casualty engineer (aircraft casualties not passengers) at British Airways on a shift pattern that gave him free time during the week. He is a very enthusiastic conservationist, specialising in wildfowl. He set up the British Airways Assisting Nature Conservation (BAANC) programme, working initially entirely on his own. Rod gained the support from the several management departments which recognised the value of the scheme.

Most aircraft depart with empty cargo space or empty seats and Rod’s idea was to offer free or discounted cargo space for the shipment of equipment and wildfowl species between those working overseas in the conservation field and the captive breeding centres of rare and endangered species in U.K., Europe and USA. He expanded this service to providing free or discounted seats for educators and students on flights with empty seats.

One example of the many organisations that benefited is the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, set up by Gerald Durrell, and based at Jersey Zoo. Students who attend the specialist training school at the Zoo have been able to travel to Jersey from their home countries for conservation and animal husbandry training. Most of the leading conservation organisations benefited from the scheme.

I met Rod in 1983 when he gave a talk on his Churchill Fellowship Award to study the Blue Duck in Australia. He included the BAANC scheme as part of the talk. As I also worked at BA at that time I asked if I could help in any way. It turned out that, as a mobile engineer, he had no office, telephone, or telex (there was no such thing as e-mail then) from which to work so I offered mine (unofficially at first).

I became a sort of communication centre that he could use when passing through and we have been friends ever since. One perk I earned was a trip to Aride, a nature reserve island in the Seychelles. The warden’s radio transceiver (this was 1993 – still no e-mails or mobile phones) had broken down so Rod and I took out a new radio set which Rod installed. He and I were then put to work digging a freshwater pool for the rare birdlife on the island.

BA saw the PR benefits of this work and formed a department which widened the service further to include heritage conservation. All the conservation organisations who had been helped by Rod nominated him and he was awarded the MBE for his conservation work.

Now retired from BA, Rod commutes between his base in Staines and an area of land he has purchased on Quadra Island, off Victoria Island, Canada. Accommodation is a sort of mobile home which he has converted into a comfortable one-bed bungalow. He has applied for Canadian citizenship. Rod is a very modest man and seeks no further recognition for his work. He is now happy to retire to his Quadra paradise where he reports the birdlife is amazing.

He is very interested in what Mavis and I do for Fleet Pond and has generously donated funds towards the Clearwater Campaign.”

A Fantastic Fundraising Evening In Fleet

Fund Raising, People

2013-11-18 FPS WE Meal

Colin Gray, Chairman of FPS, with some of the raffle prizes

Jim Storey, FPS Committee Member and event co-organiser, writes:

“What a great time we had at WE The Restaurant in Fleet on Monday 18 November. They hosted a fundraising dinner for Fleet Pond Society and what amazing food they served!

We also had some brilliant prizes donated by local businesses for our raffle and Hart Ranger Louise Greenwood, Cllrs Sharyn Wheale and Sue Tilley and FPS Committee stalwart (and birthday girl) Mandy Saxby left no wallet unturned!

It was an extremely popular evening with more than 80 guests present, and over £1,200 was raised for FPS  – a really fantastic result and a fun and tasty evening for all concerned.”

The Dredgers Return To Fleet Pond

Conservation

7149_FP_Pressrelease

Hart District Council issued the following Press Release on 8 November 2013:

“The dredging equipment will soon return to Fleet Pond to begin the next phase of the ongoing Restoration Project. This phase is funded by the Environment Agency to help deliver ‘Water Framework Directive’ objectives and Natural England’s ‘Conservation & Enhancement Scheme’.

This season’s main dredging work will take place in Hemelite Bay, the area nearest to the railway station. The resulting silt will be used to create extensions to the Wellington and Northern Reedbeds (marked on the map), which will then be planted up with reeds.

Sediment will hopefully be taken offsite during this phase; we are awaiting lab results to help confirm where this might be.

Cressida Wheelwright, Natural England’s Land Management Lead Adviser says: “This innovative project will remove the silt that has built up over years in Fleet Pond, improving water quality and as a result creating a better environment for rare plant and animal species to thrive.”

A sediment curtain will be installed in Brookly Bay to reduce the amount of silt washing down the Brookly Stream and entering the pond. This will contain the silt in a small area near the shore allowing future dredging to take place from the shore eliminating the need to carry out expensive in-lake dredging from pontoons.

The Pond has benefited hugely from the work already done. Cllr Sara Kinnell, Hart District Council Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Environmental Promotions says:

“This is an exciting time; the new islands have provided a great breeding habitat for birds at Fleet Pond and marshland plants and reeds have started to grow on the new islands”.

The Fleet Pond Restoration Project is an award winning, £1 million project to improve the water quality, led by Hart District Council in partnership with the Fleet Pond Society, Natural England, the Environment Agency & the Ministry of Defence.

Colin Gray, Chairman of Fleet Pond Society says:

“We hope that in this season we can start planting reeds on the new eastern islands to bring more benefits to our wildlife diversity.”

For further information contact Louise Greenwood on 01252 623443 (email louise.greenwood@hart.gov.uk), or ring the Hart press office on 01252 774461 (email press@hart.gov.uk).”