We are always on the lookout for new writers, photographers and illustrators for the blog!

The motivation could be a strong personal interest or hobby or perhaps as part of a school or college project. The blog has had over 62,000 visits so far so it’s an excellent place to get profile.

By taking a look at the various articles that have been published you can get a good idea of the style and typical level we’d like. Here are some popular examples:

Butterflies: Peter Martin has contributed a fascinating series of posts on butterflies at the Pond – see here.

Plants: Michelle Salter has published a popular series of posts on plants that can be seen at the Pond eg here and here.

Birds and other wildlife: Peter Hutchins wrote a post on the 42 species he saw on a 1.5 hour walk round the Pond! See here.

Colin Gray’s article on bees, written in 2008, is still the most popular article written!

Fish – we’d really appreciate an author on any aspect of this subject as we have very few articles so far!

History – I’m sure there’s lots more to write about but we’ve had a few really interesting articles that might inspire you, see here and here.

Regarding photography at the Pond, we have a site on Flickr that you might want to join or take a look at. This site was set up to cover general Fleet Pond Society events as well as wildlife and pond scenes.

You can also follow Fleet Pond Society on Twitter.

Please send me an email if you’d like further information or have a query:

David Pottinger at bloginfo@fleetpondsociety.co.uk

On Tuesday 27 September, the Chairman of Hart District Council, John Kennett, arrived with his mayoral guests from the county.

Colin Gray, FPS Chairman, gave a brief talk and answered questions.  Everyone seemed to be genuinely charmed by Fleet Pond especially as the new bridges allow some very impressive panoramic views.

Picture credit: Cathy Holden.

Some photos from Fleet Pond Society’s stand at last months ‘Go Green in Rushmoor‘ event held in the heart of Aldershot. If you would like to get involved with this sort of FPS voluntary event, please contact our Chairman, Colin Gray. Contact details on the About page above.

Cathy Holden writes:

“Thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful Fleet Carnival Committee for the magnificent cheque for £2,500 which they presented to the Fleet Pond Society Clearwater Campaign last week.

Fleet Pond Society want to thank the Fleet Carnival Committee and everyone who worked so hard to make this year’s Carnival such a success and to all the people who came out and supported it over that weekend.”

Ed. As a reminder of Fleet Pond Society at the carnival this year, please take a look here and here.

Above is the final result, from one angle, of the volunteer event from Sunday 11 September at Coldstream Marsh, and from another angle below. As you can see, the alder and sallow saplings have all been cut down (the remaining ones can be seen in the middle background in the photo below).

It was an excellent start to the volunteer events programme for 2011/12 as well as being quite a warm and beautiful day, many worked in just in a t-shirt!

The Coldstream Marsh area has undergone ‘scraping’ leading to plants such as the Skullcap (with the small,  violet-coloured trumpets) and the Lesser Spearwort (yellow) starting to grow again (see picture below, click to enlarge). The latter is a member of the Ranunculus (Buttercup) family, which is why it looks very much like a buttercup.

For more information, see the post by Louise Greenwood, the Pond’s new Ranger:

East Marsh and Coldstream Marsh were becoming encroached by scrub and trees from the surrounding woodland; this was creating shade and drawing up water from the wetland areas, creating too dry an area for the important plants to grow.  The trees were cut down and the timber sold locally as firewood.  The scrub was removed with a machine and mulched.  The chippings from this were then scraped into piles on the woodland edge.  These spoil piles will soon be covered with vegetation themselves, creating important habitats for small mammals, reptiles and invertebrates.

It’s not all work though, there’s always time for mid-morning coffee…

If you would like to join us in future events (the next one is Sunday 9 October) please take a look here. We look forward to seeing you!