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Colonisation by Wild Life
In order to speed
up the process of colonisation a few aquatic plants were
rescued from a nearby marshland ditch which was about to be
dredged, and were transplanted to the pond. These included
common reed, lesser reedmace, and yellow flag for the pond
margin, with frogbit and duckweed for the open water. In
addition, osiers were planted on the island and four willows
on the eastern bank.
More recently a hedge of hawthorn and
field maple has been planted at the top of the western bank
and 'laid' after a few years in the traditional manner to
produce a thick screen from the road and also excellent bird
nesting habitat.
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Although the summer of 1981 was dry, the water
which had accumulated in the late winter held up well and most of
the plants became well established, except for the willows which did
not take to the relatively dry conditions of the bank, and had to be
replaced. in fact, the reedrnace plants have been so successful that
they have had to be cut back several times.
Colonisation by nature has also been
successful and by the end of the second summer, a sample of water
contained a wealth of wildlife including water boatmen, pond snails
and damselfly larvae as well as sticklebacks. By the spring of 1983
one event that had become remarkable was that of frogs taking to the
water to spawn - a sight that is becoming all too rare in today's
polluted and over-tidy countryside. In the summer of 1983, a heron
took up residence for several days, causing a stir by roosting in
nearby rooftops when not fishing in the pond! More recently a
mallard produced nine ducklings from a nest on the island and raised
them all successfully-an unusual feat in the wild. Summer 1985 saw
two separate nesting attempts by mallards with only the second
clutch being hatched, and three of the four ducklings survived.
Other visiting birds have included a grey wagtail, black-headed gull
and swallow, and then a moorhen adopted the pond, which is an
encouraging sign as these are normally very shy birds.
Pipistrelle bats are worth watching out for on
warm summer evenings as they swoop over the water snapping up
insects. They are probably breeding in the roof spaces of nearby
houses where they should be left in peace, as they are quite
harmless to man and perform a useful function as insect predators.
Sadly the numbers of these interesting mammals have decreased
drastically over the last few years.
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