David Pottinger writes:
Over the past few months there has been an enormous amount of conservation work carried out by volunteers at the pond. We’re really grateful for all the efforts that so many people have put in!
As you can imagine, we’re always looking for new volunteers – why not make it a New Year’s Resolution for 2014? The two main volunteering activities are carried out by the Sunday Volunteers and by the Last of the Summer Wine team.
Here’s a collection of pictures taken at recent events (spanning November and December) that give a flavour of the work carried out, together with descriptions. Many thanks to Rachel Jones, the Grazing Ranger for Hart Countryside Services, for providing the photos and text!
The locations mentioned can be found on the map of Fleet Pond here.
Sunday Volunteers:
8 December 2013:
The Lads
Time for coffee, cakes and a catchup 🙂
The Firemen
Rachel writes:
A great Xmas FPS day had by all this Sunday. Thank you for all your hard work, especially to the new recruits! The team cleared all the storm damaged branches off the Brookly stream bed and surrounding area and burnt up a huge pile of scrub cleared recently.
Obstructions in the Gelvert Stream were pulled out and a start was made on Terry and Mandy’s dipwell route! Hot spuds and Mars cake were well received – thank you Colin!
3 November 2013:
Rachel writes:
We had six new recruits at the Fleet Pond Society Sunday morning task today! Every one worked hard clearing birch that had encroached on the Dry heathland. Now you can see the heather more clearly and the cut stumps were treated and roots and brash carefully burnt on our fire site. The picnic area was tidied up a bit after the recent storm damage.
The Explorers also joined us and enjoyed the hot potatoes and famous Mars cake! The overgrown footpath leading from the car park is also clear enabling easier access for wheel chairs and buggies. Thank you to all who came and we hope you had a very enjoyable day!
Last of the Summer Wine (LOSW):
15/11/2013:
LOSW were out in the fresh autumn air working hard clearing bracken on the woodland edge at Fleet Pond. Removing the bracken gave more bluebells a chance to thrive last year, and we hope to see them benefit this spring now the sunlight can penetrate the soil. The LOSW team aim to make the woodland walks around Fleet Pond even more enjoyable by putting in the hard graft now 🙂
22/11/2013:
A brilliant morning was had by the LOSW team (Rangers Rachel and Will were also kindly invited ). Grasmere Marsh was polished off by brush cutter Terry and and the cuttings were burnt on the fire site. Mandy , Nick and young Nick did the real work with the scythe and rakes!
This was an important task as it was part of the management plans reed bed rotational cutting regime to improve the quality of the habitat for particular bird species, invertebrates and other wildlife around Fleet Pond.
29/11/2013:
A great turn out for LOSW this Friday when all the team got stuck into cutting back vegetation on the banks of the Brookly stream. They got down in the water to scoop out leaves and debris to ensure good water flow. There is work to be done in the area to ensure the flood banks are not obstructing the main flow of the stream if we get heavy rain, so the rangers will continue this work next week.