People hope to see a floating island added to act as a sanctuary for breeding moorhens etc
Two pictures show that the coir matting laid over the earthworks up’hill’ of the boundary have now been covered and some plants are already growing up through it !
The outfall from the field drain hasn’t yet shown any flow in the recent days of rain but the one from the Green End gulley has, but unfortunately has washed some of the seeds away. I have added a splash area of stones to disperse it a bite, hopefully.
The Ducks have returned for their daily bath at 7am (I am told) and now the planting is greening after the arid summer…
Planting for Coir Rolls
AGA’s native wetland plants are selected for their adaptation to varied physical conditions and also provide excellent cover for invertebrates, fish and other animals. All the rolls are planted at their Merton Hall Ponds nursery using mature bare roots (MBR).
They plant the coir rolls with 6 plants per metre – a mix of four from:
❃ Norfolk reed (Phragmites australis)
❃ Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea)
❃ Reed sweetgrass (Glyceria maxima)
❃ Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus)
❃ Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
❃ Greater pond sedge (Carex riparia)
❃ Lesser pond sedge (Carex acutiformis)
❃ Soft rush (Juncus effusus)
The construction looks like this…
AGA will return in late autumn or the spring to plant further plants in better conditions than this summer !
Re-introduction of appropriate plants is being done slowly and systematically by CPC’s Pond Working Group
to encourage bio-diversity and to stop non-native and invasive species causing the pond to revert to its poor state in 2021.
Work on the village pond started on Monday 25th July and was expected to last three weeks. During that timeframe the area around the village pond was inaccessible, protected by fencing. Residents should take care around the site, particularly when contractor vehicles are moving around the site. They will be removing the island, dredging the silt, deepening the pond, removing the plants, repairing the brick work and then adding plants at the end of the project. It is not being re-lined.
This work has been funded by a £10k grant from the The National Lottery Community Fund (championed by Claire Coulson and the CPC Pond Working Group) and two pre-allocated budget amounts from last years and this years CPC budgets (i.e. from residents precept).
