Joanna Lawrence, the Fleet Pond Ranger, writes:

As we slowly move towards spring, our winter conservation work at Fleet Pond is drawing to an end. Much has been achieved over the last few months to improve and restore many of the wonderful habitats we are lucky enough to have on our doorstep!

Restoration work has continued on the dry heath to improve this rare and valuable habitat. Fleet Pond Society volunteers, volunteer groups from the Environment Agency and Nokia, and Hart Countryside’s Ranger team have all contributed to the clearance of birch scrub on the heath, which in some areas was starting to take over!

Picture: Volunteers From Nokia Working On The Dry Heath

Although some islands of scrub have been left for birds and other wildlife to use, the removal of scrub is important to let the heathland plants like heather become well established. Stumps are treated with a herbicide to stop the birch growing back, reducing the need to do this work every year! Some species such as willow and aspen are left as these trees are valuable habitats in themselves for many invertebrates.

If left to its own devises, heathland would readily turn back into woodland by a process known as succession. Fleet Pond was once surrounded by this type of heathland but the woodland has encroached on most of it. It is therefore very important to conserve and restore what we have of this rare and threatened habitat.

Restoration of the East Marsh was mentioned a few months back in another blog post. The scrub in this section was cleared and scraped back in September to make way for important wetland plant species. The good news is that this area is already showing signs of new shots of reed and other species growing through.

Picture: Cleared Reedbed In The Snow

Another threatened habitat we have at Fleet Pond is reedbeds. This winter we have cleared an area of reedbed on the western side of the Pond. The reasons for doing this form of management are as follows; to keep scrub under control and reduce succession, to maintain structural diversity, and to maintain the vigour of the reeds which is beneficial to species such as reed warblers. The vegetation that is cut is piled at the edges of the reedbed to be used by invertebrates, nesting wrens, and maybe the odd small mammal.

Picture: A Large Grass Snake

Grass snakes are commonly found in the wet reedbeds around the Pond and these piles also make great hibernacula for them to lay their eggs in. As the vegetation decays, it produces heat, (as any of you who have compost heaps will know!) which the snakes take advantage of to incubate their eggs.

Over several years, most of the reedbed around Fleet Pond will be cut in small patches like this. This form of long cutting rotations is the best method for maintaining reedbeds while also optimising their wildlife potential by reducing disturbance. Reedbeds that are harvested for thatch need to be cut every year and therefore have less wildlife value.

As ever, the Countryside Service has been supported this winter by Fleet Pond Society who have also carried out important work over the winter season. May I take this opportunity to thank all of those volunteers who have given up their Sunday mornings to help out in all sorts of weather!

Basingstoke Conservation Volunteers had a work party at Fleet Pond on Sunday 25 January.

Mike Norman writes:

“Despite a dismal weather forecast and unpromising conditions first thing in the morning, five BC volunteers made it out to the Countryside Workshop for 10 am. As conditions were looking up, we turned down the offer of work under cover and headed out to Fugelmere Marsh accompanied by Colin Gray and David Buckler. The original plan to brushcut Bog Myrtle had already been abandoned due to high water levels, so the work was to continue extending the “scallop” in the marsh-side woodland to let in more light. Due to the relatively small numbers, we concentrated on the smaller trees and underbrush (chiefly holly), mostly leaving the larger trees for chainsaws. Defying the wet, we managed to light a bonfire to burn most of the brash, while stacking the larger timbers. By mid afternoon we had cleared a good section of the marsh edge of saplings and brush and, having ensured the bonfire was fully extinguished, were able to head off home for a nice warm bath!”

Picture: An Iced-Over Fleet Pond Plus Two Keen Runners!

The Volunteer Event on Sunday 11 January had a really good turnout, helped considerably by a sizeable contingent from Fleet Wildlife Explorers (WEX for short) which is a junior section of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

Their leaders are Jonathan Mist (founder) and Andy Golder and further information on them can be found here (including an email contact address, see under Events). As it happens they are on the lookout for new leaders so if you are interested, please get in touch with Jonathan!

Picture: A Really Good Turnout!

It was a very pleasant day, blue skies and mild, and the task was to cut back saplings (seen in the background). I’ve posted many pictures of this before – this time I’ll include the final aspect, the treatment of the stumps (so that they don’t grow again).

Picture: Treated Sapling Stumps

The cut saplings are brought together in a couple of heaps and fires started (as described in a previous post). Before the site can be left, any remaining fires need to be dowsed for obvious reasons. Normally this is not a problem as water can be taken straight from the pond but on this occasion this was not possible and was instead taken from a bordering marsh area.

Picture: Extracting Water From A Marsh

The next volunteer event will be on Sunday 8 February 2009.

Important Update:

A reader has kindly pointed out that there seems to be an apparent contradiction between requesting people not to go on the ice at Fleet Pond and then showing a picture where a member of a volunteer event might be construed as doing just that! To clarify matters, I’ll give some further details that were omitted in the original post to keep it to a reasonable length. My apologies for any unintentional misunderstandings this may have caused.

The explanation is actually quite interesting and brings in other topics discussed in previous posts.

The ‘Stay Off The Ice’ post arose from a request from the Pond Ranger. This was because members of the public were seen skating on the ice (sometimes unaccompanied and far from the bank), clearly potentially a dangerous activity. The post was put up to remind people of the dangers of skating and also that it is actually illegal thereby hopefully avoiding a serious incident.

The picture of the person about to gather water to extinguish the volunteer event fires was taken at a marsh that borders Fleet Pond. The general public are not allowed into this marsh area and it is clearly fenced off. The person in the picture has permission to go into this restricted area as it contains a dipwell and he (and a colleague) measure water levels there on a weekly basis throughout the year (more details given here). They both know the area well and are fully aware of any areas of risk.

I hope this explanation clarifies matters. In summary, suitable care and attention need to be taken at all times, in all areas.

I have also amended the last paragraph of the original post and changed the title of the last picture to make things a little clearer.