Last week our fabulous Warden, Dave, and our membership fundraiser, Andy, carried out some minor habitat work on our pond. This was to try and maintain the habitat and keep it in favourable condition. This basically involved removing a sizeable amount of the broad-leaved pond weed which has carpeted almost the entire surface of the pond, restricting light access below the water surface and suffocating lots of other aquatic plant life.
You keen-eyed readers might notice that there are still piles of the pondweed all around the edge of the pond! This has been done to allow for any creepy crawlies to find their way back into the pond before the plant remains are removed altogether this week!
At a later date, our warden team will also be cutting back more of the overhanging willow growth around the pond to reduce the amount of shading it creates. They will also be removing any fallen leaves, as these take up valuable oxygen levels and add to a more stagnant environment.
Big thanks and gratitude to Andy for his help with this and other work around the reserve this week as part of his volunteer day! And of course to our wonderful warden too.
Stay tuned for more habitat updates as we prepare for the Spring! #WardenWednesday