Improving our islands – this short video shows how we’ve recently started to get to grips with a longstanding issue at Fleet Pond.
Many of the 21 islands created by the lake restoration project, which commenced in 2012, have developed vegetation.
However, some of the islands have remained barren in terms of aquatic plants, due to grazing by geese and the soft, mobile silt bed.
Working in collaboration with Hart Countryside Service, our plan is to use bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliate) to form a buffer zone within the islands and create conditions conducive to colonisation by other aquatic plants once prolific at Fleet Pond.
Bogbean is a robust native plant that forms floating mats. It was originally introduced to Fleet Pond to protect the margins of reedbeds from overgrazing by Canada geese. It’s done a great job, and the once declining reedbeds are now in a much better condition.
We’re transferring bogbean from areas such as Hemelite Bay, where it’s abundant, to islands on the north east corner of the lake. The trials will be monitored, and progress reported.
Bogbean provides habitats for a range of aquatic invertebrates, including dragonflies whose larvae use the stems to climb out of the water.
We’ve set up a Fleet Pond Society channel on YouTube that features a range of short videos showing the work we do at the Pond.
To subscribe to the channel just search for Fleet Pond Society on YouTube. We can only get a customised URL if we have 100 subscribers. Thank you!