The task on 14 February was to tackle the birch on the Dry Heath.  This was a follow-on from the Carbon Army Challenge task last December.

We were joined by Andy Golder and his team of Wildlife Explorers, complete with assistants and parents.

Cathy, A New Driver For The Tractor!

Enjoying A Well-Earned Break!

Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire! Burning The Birch

Members Of ‘The Last Of The Summer Wine Team’ In Action

Geoff Dee writes:

On a cold Friday morning in February, 5 members of the “Last Of The Summer Wine” team (Terry, Nick, Cathy, Mandy and Geoff) undertook a task erecting fencing to protect nesting sites in the western reedbed from intrusion by dogs (and people).

The group met at 09.30 at the Rangers’ Workshop and worked until 12.30 with a short break for coffee and cakes.

This friendly team meets on an ad-hoc basis at 3 to 4 week intervals to take on small to medium size tasks which the rangers find hard to fit into their schedules.  This is in addition to the regular conservation days which take place on the second Sunday of each month (excluding July and August).

There is always room for willing pairs of hands to help out.  All tools and gloves are provided and no previous experience is needed.

Anyone interested should contact Terry Austin on 01252 624925 (tsandja2010@live.co.uk) for further details.

Joanna Lawrence, The Fleet Pond Ranger, writes:

There are 630 species of spider in Britain, of which 130 species were recorded during a 1998 survey at Fleet Pond.

Spiders come in many shapes and sizes with each group different from the rest.  Hunting techniques vary widely across the different groups with not all spiders making webs to catch their prey.  The Jumping spiders for example have two very large eyes at the front of their heads to allow them to hunt visually and pounce on their prey.  These eyes are highly developed with binocular vision, excellent focusing ability and are also properly sensitive to colour.

Some species such as the Woodlouse Eating Spiders are specially adapted to their prey.  These spiders have extremely large jaws which allow them to pierce the tough outer body of the woodlice.

For those spiders that spin webs, there is great variation in the types and shapes of webs spun.  Some are round, triangular or even tunnels of silk in which the spider lies in wait for prey.  Spiders can produce 7 different types of silk from 7 different glands, all of which are used for different purposes.  Although they do not have all 7 glades, spiders usually have at least 3 or 4.

Zebra Jumping Spider

Fleet Pond has a great variety of spiders, and several rather fascinating and unusual species are found here, a few of which are described below.

The Water Spider Argyroneta aquatica is a spider that lives an aquatic lifestyle.  It has been found at Fleet Pond in amongst the Bog Bean plant which grows in patches around the Pond.  They spin a retreat web under water amongst vegetation, as shown in the photo, which is then filled with air which the spider collects from the surface.  Oxygen levels are maintained within this retreat by diffusion from the surrounding water or from bubbles of oxygen from the surrounding vegetation.  Mating and egg laying takes place within the web.  Prey is also brought here to be eaten and is only rarely taken to the surface.  Prey usually includes aquatic invertebrates and occasionally small fish.

Water Spiders (Female and Male)

Fleet Pond is also home to Britain’s biggest spiders, the Raft Spider Dolomedes fimbriatus.  This species lives in amongst vegetation in wet areas such as wet heaths and fens and, as its name suggests, can float on top of water like a raft.  They hunt by sitting in low vegetation with their front feet on the surface of the water ready to pick up vibrations made by prey which are then pulled out of the water and eaten.  Prey can include insects as large as dragonflies, tadpoles and even small fish.  Prey can also be chased across the surface of the water or through vegetation.

A Raft Spider Eating A Dragonfly

The Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi is a very distinctive and beautiful spider with yellow and black stripped markings.  This species was once confined to the south coast of England but has been slowly spreading north.  It is an orb web spider which spins a circular web in low vegetation with a distinctive zigzag pattern above and below the centre of the web.  It catches flying insects such as crickets and grasshoppers.  The female’s egg sack is also the largest of any British spider, measuring 25mm across.

Wasp Spider

Photo credits: Wikipedia (first), Wikipedia (second) and Joanna Lawrence (third and fourth).

It was secateurs at dawn today when a trusty bunch of volunteers headed out into the reedbeds to collect seeds. Very cold work but we collected quite a few bin bags of them.

These will be dried out by our new ecological engineering chum, Glyn Onione. And then be ready to be cultivated for new reedbeds that we anticipate being part of the sustainable solution to the Pond’s future.

Just a small, but practical first step in the Fleet Pond Clearwater Campaign.

Interesting recent discussion on the CEMEX Angling Forum on reminiscences of fishing for pike in Fleet Pond.

Extracts include:

Many years ago I used to fish Fleet Pond (the larger one of the two) for Pike and had some good fun down there with my biggest going to just under 20lbs….

I used to fish Fleet Great for the pike back in the early 70’s. Mainly off the station car park where the tunnels go under the line to Fleet Small. The pike would fry feed on perch then and would gang them up in the tunnel. Watching hundreds of fry climbing the walls trying to get away was a sight to behold. Used to catch the perch on a bare hook with a bit of fluff, leaf, anything really twitched through the water.

I fished it last year – lure fished from a kayak and most of it was 18″ deep over a similar depth of silt. I only tried a couple of sessions, saw loads of fish activity but couldnt get anything on a lure at all.

Anglers who would like to see the fishing experience at Fleet Pond improved might like to know that we (Fleet Pond Society) are about to launch a big campaign to raise mega-bucks to restore the pond’s biodiversity. If we can raise the cash we intend a major dredging programme and include repair and improvement of jetties among other improvements. Support by the fishing community will be welcomed.

Please contact Colin Gray (see About page above) if you would like more information on or would like to support the biodiversity restoration projects at Fleet Pond.

Picture credit: Wikipedia.