Category Archives: Plants and Animals

Birds Seen At Fleet Pond (1970-2016)

Conservation, Education, Photography, Plants and Animals

Cormorants 2 small

Cormorants at Fleet Pond (courtesy of Barry Perfect, see here)

David Pottinger writes:

When taking walks round the Pond, it’s customary to see the ducks, geese and swans and these are rightly highly popular. However there are a lot more birds that can be seen and some of these are mentioned on the various information boards dotted around.

An interesting question is, how many different types of birds have been seen and recorded at the Pond? As an answer to this, an impressive checklist has been produced by William Legge (covering 1970 – June 2016) and the pdf can be downloaded here. The front page of the document is given below. As you can see the listing is very detailed and gives an enormous amount of useful information.

screenshot-bird-checklist-2016

This sort of detailed information is regularly published in the attractive Fleet Pond Society (FPS) Newsletter, which covers all aspects of the Pond. This is only available to members and joining instructions are given here (a very modest £10 for digital download).

In addition:

Impressive pictures of some of these birds can be found on the FPS Group on Flickr, see here. The most recent photos are also given in the Flickr widget on the rhs of this blog.

Finally, previously published articles on birds at the Pond can also be found below:

Be Careful of Harmful Algal Blooms at Fleet Pond

Education, Plants and Animals

blue green algae

From Hart Countryside Services:

“Blue Green Algae occurs naturally but blooms like those at Fleet Pond occur when numbers become excessive. It is a temporary bloom and occurs during prolonged dry periods followed by rain. The rain flows through the catchment washing nutrients into the streams and ditches which then enter the pond in a process called eutrophication.

People should ensure that they do not enter the pond or make contact with the water. Toxins in the algae can cause skin rashes, eye irritation, fever, diarrhoea and fever in people who have swallowed or swam through algal scum. The toxins in the algae are also harmful to animals so pet owners should keep their animals away from the pond.

If people have made contact with the water they should not panic as the symptoms described above do not occur in every case. People are advised to wash their skin down after contact with the affected water but if symptoms persist people should visit a doctor. If their pets become ill after drinking affected water they should seek veterinary advice.”

The Big Butterfly Count 2016

Conservation, Education, Plants and Animals, Volunteering

ButterflyPoster2016

From the Big Butterfly Count web site:

“The big butterfly count is a nationwide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. It was launched in 2010 and has rapidly become the world’s biggest survey of butterflies. Over 52,000 people took part in 2015, counting over 580,000 individual butterflies and day-flying moths across the UK (see the 2015 results).  

Join in with big butterfly count 2016 from 15 July – 7 August.

Why count butterflies?

Butterflies react very quickly to change in their environment which makes them excellent biodiversity indicators. Butterfly declines are an early warning for other wildlife losses.

That’s why counting butterflies can be described as taking the pulse of nature.

The count will also assist us in identifying trends in species that will help us plan how to protect butterflies from extinction, as well as understand the effect of climate change on wildlife.

How to take part

Simply count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright (preferably sunny) weather during the big butterfly count. We have chosen this time of year because most butterflies are at the adult stage of their lifecycle, so more likely to be seen. Records are welcome from anywhere: from parks, school grounds and gardens, to fields and forests.”

Why not give it a go?

Here are some interesting and informative articles on butterflies that can be seen at Fleet Pond: