All posts by David Pottinger

The Pirates Of Fleet Pond

Fund Raising, People

Cathy Holden writes:

The sun shone and the crowds turned out along the Fleet Road to witness this year’s Carnival with the theme ‘Musicals’.

We took the theme ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ and tweaked it to ‘The Pirates of Fleet Pond’. Congratulations to Terry Austin and his crew for building the fabulous ‘Black Swan‘ which won Second Prize in the Motorised Float Section.  The attention to detail was fantastic and the meerkat crew enthralled the children along the route.

Carnival 2013 - Crew and the Black Swan

The Pirates of Fleet Pond with their galleon the Black Swan readying themselves to invade Fleet Carnival

Carnival 2013 - Meercats on deck

The meerkat crew on deck keeping watch

Carnival 2013 - Walking the plank

One scurvy knave doesn’t do his job and has to walk the plank…..

Carnival 2013 - Halt on Connaught Road

Carnival jam on Connaught Road

Carnival 2013 - Pirates on High Street

Pirates on Fleet High Street!

Photo credits: Cathy Holden and Louise Greenwood

Fleet Pond Restoration Project Wins Prestigious Award

Conservation

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Back, left to right – Steve Lyons and Louise Greenwood (HDC Countryside Service), Mavis and Colin Gray (Fleet Pond Society), David Ryan (WM Longreach) and Becky Burvill  (Johns Associates).

Front, left to right – Adam Green (HDC L&EP and Project Lead) and Damian McGettrick (Director, WM Longreach).

Visitors to Fleet Pond over the past year have been witness to the vast amount of work taking place as a result of the Fleet Pond Restoration Project. Now this outstanding work has been recognised by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) which named the project winner of the ‘Sustainability and Environmental Management Award’ at the ICE South East England Engineering Excellence Awards 2013. Representatives of the project team were delighted to be presented with the trophy at the awards ceremony on 21st June in Southampton (see photo above).

This Award recognises the excellence of the works carried out by the Fleet Pond Restoration Project Team consisting of:

  • The Environment Agency
  • Fleet Pond Society
  • Hart District Council
  • Johns Associates
  • Natural England
  • WM Longreach.

The works involved dredging the lake and reusing the sediment to create islands to act as wind barriers to stop silt clouding the water. Retaining structures were installed to ensure the silt does not spread back over the pond base and the islands will allow colonisation by native reeds thus creating new habitats.

Cllr Sara Kinnell, Hart District Council portfolio holder for Leisure and Environmental Promotion said: “A great achievement for a well deserving project. I’d like to thank Johns Associates and WM Longreach for making this happen and to the partners for fifteen years of hard work in creating the right environment for success.”

Colin Gray, Chairman of Fleet Pond Society said: “The nominees for this prestigious award presented many high quality and high cost engineering projects. We had some strong competition so to win is a very clear recognition of the achievement by the Project Team. Johns Associates and WM Longreach deserve special praise for the design and construction work.”

Wildflower Watch around the Pond

Plants and Animals
Yellow Flag Iris
Yellow Flag Iris

Michelle Salter has written a series of posts on the wildflowers that can found around Fleet Pond during the Spring and Summer months.

This year, many plants have bloomed later than usual, and it’s interesting to see how this compares to previous years’ flower sightings.

March: Lesser Celandine and the Brookly Stream

April: Marsh Marigold, Cuckoo Flower, Dog-violet & Forget-me-not

May: Bogbean, Garlic Mustard and Skunk Cabbage

June: Yellow Flag Iris, Honeysuckle and Yellow Water-lily

July: Heather, Lichen, Meadowsweet and Yellow Loosestrife

August: Berries, Rosebay Willowherb and Purple Loosestrife

More On Hairy Caterpillars

Conservation, Plants and Animals

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Garden Tiger Moth (showing the hindwing pattern)

Peter Martin writes:

“Writing the recent article about hairy caterpillars of the Oak Processionary Moth reminded me of the brown hairy caterpillars of the Garden Tiger Moth that I was always coming across during my youth.

The hairs from these creatures are loaded with histamines and can cause nasty irritations if handled. If more than one is kept together in captivity, they can be cannibalistic (don’t ask me how one can chew the other one without getting a mouthful of those nasty hairs).

I haven’t seen any of these hairy monsters (often called “woolly bears”) for many years and there is now real concern that they could become extinct.

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Caterpillar of the Garden Tiger Moth

“Butterfly Conservation” has a moth-night each year and this year it is making a particular request for anyone spotting a Garden Tiger Moth during the period from the 8th to the 10th August to report it.

More information on National Moth Night can be found here.

I am sure that, if you spot any of these caterpillars at any time and are sure that they are not one of the other hairy moth creatures, “Butterfly Conservation” would like to hear from you.”

Photos credits: here.

Bugs, Boatmen And The Brownies

Education, People

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Pond dipping at the new platform

On an evening in early June, a group of 24 Brownies, together with their 3 Leaders, visited Fleet Pond to go bug hunting and pond dipping (see sample pictures above and below).

Vikki Oldham, a Leader with 6th Fleet Brownies, writes:

“As part of their Wildlife Explorer badge, on 5th June the girls from 6th Fleet Brownies headed down for a bit of fun at Fleet Pond. Thankfully we were blessed with a warm and sunny evening, perfect for a spot of bug hunting and pond dipping!

They were all eager to get going and soon set too, poking, prodding, lifting and dipping until their bug pots were full and their nets overflowing. They had a fantastic time and, I’m relieved to say, everyone caught something…even the Leaders! I know the saying goes that little boys love slugs and snails but I can certainly attest that our girls love them too! They also now love weevils, centipedes, water boatmen, worms and backswimmers!

The Brownies had a great time with Colin and Louise, who were fabulous and really got the girls interested in the creatures they were finding. They were proudly telling their parents what they’d caught as they headed for home. I’d never thought I’d hear a child so excited to find a maggot!”

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Investigating what’s there

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It looks like they’ve found something!

The new dipping platform was sponsored by Fleet Townswomen’s Guild, and built by volunteers from Fleet Pond Society. The platform was officially opened by ladies from the Guild at the recent Wildlife Open Day.

The platform is situated at the corner of the Pond in the vicinity of the Dimension Data building and Fleet Railway Station (see below).

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The new pond-dipping platform

Photo credits: David Pottinger