Michelle Salter writes:

We’ve been extremely fortunate that grants from Natural England and the Environment Agency have made the current phase of dredging work possible. Fleet Pond Society are now able to spend some of the money raised by our Clearwater Campaign to implement plans within the Restoration Programme that fall outside of grant funding.

One of the first projects we hope to get off the ground (literally!) is a pond dipping platform for children. The platform will cost around £5000 and will be positioned over the small body of water called The Flash that runs under the bridge by the station. It should be in place by the end of February 2013, ready for visiting school, scout and guide groups.

You may have noticed that one of the new islands has just been covered with gravel. This is to create an environment that will encourage terns and Little ringed plovers. We hope to gravel-top another island by next spring, before the new breeding season starts. The cost of the geotextile sheeting and gravel required is about £4500.

The pond is in a poor state when it comes to aquatic flora and fauna. We plan to spend about £6500 on creating an aquatic nursery, by using a geotextile curtain to separate an area of water. Larger fish will be removed from this area and placed in the main pond. The separated area will form a reservoir of aquatic plants and animals that will help to repopulate the main pond once the quality of its water has improved.

Finally, on an extremely cold and wet day in February 2010, a small group of volunteers braved the soggy reedbeds to gather sacks full of reed seed heads. These have been stored and nursed to a mature state by British Flora, and our reed plugs should be ready to plant around some of the new islands in the spring. We’ve placed an order for 8000 of our Phragmites reed plugs which will cost £3500. Our patron, Chris Packham, has kindly agreed to plant the first reed.

The Fleet Pond Society would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Clearwater Campaign and we hope you will enjoy seeing the new life these projects will bring to the pond.

From Hart Countryside Services:

Tuesday 30th October, 6pm – 8pm – Halloween Walk around Fleet Pond

Join us for a scary evening at Fleet Pond. Venture for a walk full of surprises around the eerie Fleet Pond at night. Wear your scariest costume and win a prize.

Suitable for children aged 7+ and they must be accompanied by an adult.

Booking Essential. You can book online or phone 01252 623443 or email us on countryside@hart.gov.uk.  £4 per adult and £2 per child. Payable on the day.

On Friday 21 September, we were lucky to have SSE visit the pond to help out with our conservation activities. There was a large turnout (see above) and they were joined by Rachel Jones, our Seasonal Ranger, and three stalwarts of Fleet Pond Society (Terry Austin, Geoff Dee and Nick Keeley).

It was a full days activity and a considerable amount of scrub was removed from Coldstream Marsh, which was then burnt in an impressive fire (see below). This is important work as it changes the diversity of the area which in turn helps support rare species and their habitat.

The conservation day came through SSE’s commitment to community support via their Community At Heart programme:

Thanks to our community volunteering project, Community at Heart, each of our 20,000 employees has the opportunity to take a day out of their typical working life to support local community projects.

The SSE staff all appreciated the challenge and thought it very worthwhile. They hope to come back with another team in the future 🙂

Final Result – Everything Neat And Tidy!

Rachel Jones, our Seasonal Pond Ranger, joined a team of volunteers from Dimension Data on Friday 14th September to clear thick bramble from Coldstream Glade,  to replace a board near Fuglemere and to carry out some erosion protection on the Gelvert Stream.

As Seen From A Walk Round The Pond

An excellent and satisfying job for a Friday afternoon and one that visitors will appreciate!

The Dimension Data Team

Back-Breaking Work – But It’s Got To Be Done!

More photos can be found on the Dimension Data Facebook page.

Dimension Data also had a volunteer event at the pond last year when the team did a really good job in renovating the footpath at the end of Westover Road that leads to Gelvert Glade. They are also very active supporters of the FPS Clearwater Campaign; as an example, see here.

PS Please see this map if you are unfamiliar with any of the locations named above.

The next event for the 2012/13 season is this coming Sunday where we will either be tackling scrub at Coldstream Marsh or else cutting reed at the Northern (or Hemelite) Reedbed (the task will be decided nearer the time).

Meeting arrangements:
We meet at the Countryside Workshop, Old Pump House Close (next to 65 Kenilworth Road) at 9.00 a.m. for a 9.15 start. Signposted directions to the site are available if anyone comes late.

Volunteers will need old clothing, waterproof if rain is expected, protective gloves and wellington boots (we have a supply of gloves and boots if you do not own these).

Current volunteers comprise a wide range of ages of both genders. We’re a very friendly bunch and we’re always keen to receive new volunteers, including students on the Duke of Edinburgh and Trident schemes.

Examples of previous volunteer events (including many photos) can be found by using the search facility on the rhs column of this blog.

Further details are available from:

Task Co-ordinator:
Colin Gray at 01252 616183 or colin@fleetpondsociety.co.uk
or
Task Leader:
David Buckler at 01252 521282 or david.buckler@talktalk.net