Summer Grazing

Joanna Lawrence writes:

Summer at Fleet Pond is in full swing now that our cows have arrived on Wood Lane Heath.  The cows, from Miller’s Ark Farm near Odiham, are young males and go by the names Lynx, Lego and Lucas.

They are here to do the important job of eating the Purple Moor grass and the birch saplings which if left would take over on the heath to the detriment of important heathland species such as heather.  This section of heathland habitat is currently in great condition, as shown in botanical and invertebrate surveys that were carried out last summer which came up with some very positive results.  This is largely due to the grazing programme that has been running here since 2004.  Grazing is the traditional form of management for managing heathlands and it also reduces the need for manual management.

The cows are very used to people passing by, but we ask that all dogs be kept on leads when passing through the heath.  There is also plenty of food for them to eat so please do not feed them!

We would also like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those “lookers” who keep a close eye on the cattle for us, it’s very much appreciated!

If there are any problems with the cattle, please contact the following numbers;

Miller’s Ark Graziers:  01256 701847

Hart Countryside Service Rangers:  01252 623443
Or e-mail; countryside@hart.gov.uk

How Deep Is The Pond?

Picture: Results of Bathymetric Survey of Fleet Pond

Colin Gray writes:

OPAL, the Open Air Laboratories network is an exciting new initiative supported by The Big Lottery Fund. OPAL is encouraging people to get back in touch with nature. A wide range of projects is planned. The first survey that encouraged anyone with an interest in nature to participate, in February 2009, asked people to survey the variety of earthworms that could be found close to their homes, in the garden, local park or nature reserve.

An OPAL sponsored nation-wide survey started in November 2008 by University College London is looking at lakes and ponds in the UK and Fleet Pond was chosen as representative of lakes in the South East. Water quality, level of siltation, fish species and chemical analysis are all being studied.

OPAL has produced a bathymetric survey of Fleet Pond which depicts water depths in graphic form (see picture above). This shows very clearly just how serious the silt situation has become. Nowhere over the 52 acres (21 hectares) is the depth more than 0.82 metres. Large areas are less than 0.5 metres. Work to address this situation is urgent if we are not to lose over a third of the pond and to put the nature reserve at risk of losing SSSI notification.

To learn what you can do to help or to find more about OPAL visit their website here, send an e-mail here or phone 020 7942 5894.

How To Spot Butterflies

As you know, we are running a monthly series of articles on butterflies (see here and here for the April and May posts).

The Independent newspaper is running The Great British Butterfly Hunt and as part of this it gives tips on how to spot them. Here they are, as they might be useful whilst wandering around the pond or else in your back garden:

Butterflies are active in warm sunny weather, so choose days when the air temperature is above 14C and there is at least 50% sun

Butterflies are most active from 10am to 4.30pm

Most species like sheltered, sunny positions to bask or feed. Try sheltered gardens, parks, derelict land, hedgerows, tall grasses, bramble, wild flowers, woodland clearings or south-facing slopes (take care)

Certain garden plants are magnets. Butterflies visit to drink nectar through a long coiled proboscis (like a drinking straw). In spring, try dandelions and sweet rocket. In summer: buddleia (the “butterfly bush”), scabious, thistles, brambles and herbs in flower like majoram and thyme.

Approach slowly. They have all-round vision. Any quick movement will make them take off.

If you are lucky enough to live near chalk or limestone grassland, several beautiful and rare species of blue butterfly thrive in short-grazed vegetation.

Carry a picture guide or poster.

Binoculars can be very useful.

Follow a feeding butterfly to where it lands to feed. This sometimes offers a better look at its underside markings, helpful for identifying species like the green-veined white.

Three don’ts. Don’t handle caterpillars; they are delicate. Don’t catch butterflies with bare hands; their scaly wings do not regenerate. And try not to trample vegetation or wild flowers which may be used for breeding.

If you spot a species you can even add a sighting online, see here.

May Wildflower Watch

 

Bogbean at Hemelite Bay

Michelle Salter writes:

The pretty, white flowers of Bogbean have been appearing along the edges of the reedbeds at Hemelite Bay. Bogbean is a creeping aquatic perennial that grows along the sides of lakes, ponds or slow flowing rivers. Often forming large colonies, Bogbean plants help to protect the greenery of the reedbeds against damage from Canada Geese.

Bogbean at Hemelite Bay

The flower buds of Bogbean are rose pink and open up into feathery white stars, as the petals are fringed with white threads. The plant has distinctive three-lobed shiny leaves, raised on long stalks to avoid shade.

 

The leaves of Bogbean have been used to flavour beer, giving the plant the alternative name of ‘bog hop’. 

Garlic Mustard by Railway Footpath

Garlic Mustard, also known as Jack-by-the-Hedge, because of the long lines of white flowers that form alongside hedges in spring, is currently in flower and can be seen at the side of the footpath by the railway.

When crushed, the leaves have a distinct smell of garlic, and the flowers attract a large number of moths and butterflies, including the colourful Orange-tip.

Skunk Cabbage by Chestnut Grove Jetty

The dreaded Skunk Cabbage, Lysichiton americanus, has been popping up all over the place, originating from the large patch dwelling just over the fence by Brookly Bridge. These are the remains of what was once a private garden that housed other exotic imports, such as the bamboo, which is also prevalent along the stream’s banks.

Skunk Cabbage is thought to have been introduced to this country from North America in 1901. A marginal aquatic perennial, which grows in boggy areas and shallows, the plants seed freely and will soon cover the full length of a stream and beyond. Sizeable clumps are now appearing all around the pond and can shade out other vegetation.

Skunk Cabbage is so named because of the strong, musky scent the flowers produce to attract pollinating insects in spring. Its huge green leaves can grow up to a metre tall and the striking yellow flowers that recently appeared are now being followed by knobbly seed heads. 

Bluebells at Sandhills

For a pleasanter fragrance, try walking along the banks at Sandhills where there are still some lovely displays of bluebells.

 

Next month: Watch out for the tall flowers of Yellow Flag Iris which are already starting to appear around the pond.

 

Picture credits: Michelle Salter

Garden Party in June!

If you have queries or donations, please contact Cathy Holden (phone: 01252 640011 or email here) who will be pleased to help.

Sights From The Dry Heath

Adder

David Buckler writes:

I came across this silvery male adder (above) next to the path through the centre of the Dry Heath basking in the warm sunshine. The males tend to come out earlier than the females, for territory and mates. It is best to keep to the paths, (and dogs on a lead), in the spring, as adders tend then to be slower reacting in avoiding us. In the summer they are much more alert, and can sense us by vibration, hiding away. 

Lousewort

Lousewort (above) is out now beside the path through the Dry Heath to the picnic site. In olden days people used to fill their bedding with this to deter fleas and lice, hence the name.

Broad-bodied chaser

This dragonfly (above) was a surprise being out so early, looking as if it had just hatched from the larva, so was resting, and warming in the sun. They usually inhabit woodland near ponds. This species, and the Four-Spotted Chaser, (which can be seen in large  numbers later, with it’s four bold black spots, whizzing around the scrapes on a hot day), have benefitted from the creation of the scrapes on the marsh, they both like newly created ponds, dragonflies being very specific in their requirements.

Picture credits: David Buckler

In case you are unfamiliar with the location of the Dry Heath, please see the Fleet Pond map in the About page above.

BBC Countryfile Photographic Competition 2009

Last night BBC Countryfile had a section, fronted by Jo Brand and Chris Packham, on their Photographic Competition 2009.

The theme of the competition is ‘Wild and Wonderful’ and is open to individual interpretation. The competition entry rules are here.

Maybe a suitable shot from Fleet Pond Nature Reserve might make a strong entry?

Chris Packham, the well-known TV-presenter, photographer and author, is the Patron of Fleet Pond Society.

Volunteer Event This Sunday!

Fleet Pond Society organises and runs a series of volunteer conservation activities at the Pond. The next conservation task is this coming Sunday, May 10.

Colin Gray writes:

“On our management tour recently we agreed to direct attention to the protective fencing along the banks above the pony paddock main access (where the water tank is located).  The existing fence is now just a line of posts with odd bits of wire remaining to be removed. The Ranger, Joanna Lawrence, says we can have some of the posts from the workshop storage yard which should be longer lasting than the logs we usually use. This will be a dry task not requiring wellies but will need lots of cutting, sawing and hammering!”

If you have never been before and fancy trying it, please just turn up (details here) or else give Colin Gray a call on 01252 616183, who will be delighted to provide additional information.

Migrants Flocking At The Pond

Picture: Reed Warbler

From The Independent:

Tot it up. Buds are bursting. Leaves are opening. Blossom is blooming. Flowers are flourishing. Butterflies are emerging. Trout are rising. Birds are singing. Birds are nesting. And indeed, birds are arriving. The arrival of the migrant birds that winter in Africa and spend the summer breeding in Britain is perhaps the most exhilarating April event of all… it has been estimated that (before the declines began) as many as four million willow warblers alone landed in Britain every spring – four million pairs of tiny whirring wings crossing the Sahara, the Mediterranean, Spain and France and finally the Channel before fanning out across the land to begin their silvery descending songs.

For Fleet Pond specifically, we have had as many as 40 breeding pairs of Reed Warbler in the reedbeds. This bird is the one the cuckoos need at the pond because they are the cuckoos’ favourite for nests.  They can watch the birds building nests in the reeds from the trees and then drop in and lay as soon as a few eggs have been laid (see picture below).

Picture: Reed Warbler Raising the Young of A Common Cuckoo

Also keep an eye out for house martins and swifts.  Nothing says spring more than a flock of swifts screaming their welcomes overhead.

Picture: Swift in Flight

Picture credits: here, here and here.

Lions To The Rescue!

 

Kenilworth Viewpoint – Before

Michelle Salter writes:

Some brand new benches, made of recycled plastic bags, had kindly been donated to the Pond, with two earmarked for use at Kenilworth Viewpoint. This is a beautiful spot which offers a wonderful view of the pond, before the footpath takes you off into woodland, if you are walking in an anti-clockwise direction, and there is not another clear sight of the water until you reach Sandy Bay.

We wanted to install the benches at the earliest opportunity, so visitors could enjoy them during the summer months, but lacked the manpower – Fleet Lions then came to our rescue!

Jim Storey, Lions President, rounded-up the troops and soon had a team willing to give up their Sunday morning lie-in and take on the task. A few of us did a recce of the site a couple of days beforehand and found the rangers had already deposited a large pile of gravel for our use and outlined the proposed path edges and positions of the seats. As well as assembling and installing the benches, we discovered we also needed to raise the level of the ground around the seating area and of the access path leading down to it, making it suitable for prams and wheelchairs.

This was going to be quite a  task, so we roped in a few volunteers from our regular conservation volunteer work party to lend a hand.

Graham, Richard, Nick, Keith, Michelle, Graham, Terry, Jim, Nikki & Mike

Ten of us met up at the workshop on the morning of Sunday 19th April and loaded up the tractor with all the parts needed to assemble the benches. On site, there was much scratching of heads as we tried to figure out the instructions. The benches didn’t need anchors as they were already part of the assembly (there is a T-shape on the lower end of the legs that is sunk into the soil) but a very deep hole was needed to make them secure.

We divided into two teams, with one half figuring out where all the nuts and bolts went and the other on hole-digging duties. Once the benches were sunk into the ground, much more gravel was needed to level the area around them and raise the height of the access path. After many trips in the tractor to and from the workshop to obtain more rubble, and much shovelling of gravel into and out of the trailer, we eventually managed to create an even surface. Some flattening out with the manual and motorised tampers was needed to smooth-out the ground before we were finally able to stand back and admire our handy work.

It was very gratifying to receive appreciative comments from some of the visitors to the pond that day, who made the time to stop and thank us for the work we were doing. We hope that many more visitors will now stop to rest their feet at the Kenilworth Viewpoint and enjoy the scenery.

Kenilworth Viewpoint - After

Read further details in the Star Courier, dated Thursday 30^th April 2009.

Photo credits: Before and After: Michelle Salter and Group Photo: Vicki Jull.