Ponds – Rustical

Farmland Pond Restoration Opportunity

Ecologists wanted for Hesketh Bank pond restoration project.

Ponds and scrapes provide environments in farmland for aquatic biodiversity covering plants, invertebrates, amphibians, fishes, and mammals. Many farm ponds in the area have already been lost to modern agricultural practices.

Our own derelict ponds have now been cleared of most of the overhanging trees, scrub, scrap and general detritus and the next phase will be the digger work. A habitat survey has been completed earlier this year to provide a baseline but if anyone is interested in following, monitoring or documenting the changes to the habitat and ecology they would be very welcome.

A drained scrape awaiting restoration — A drained grassland ‘scrape’ awaiting restoration

We are particularly keen to take a scientific approach to steering the re-establishment of these farm ponds and measure wherever possible the influence of pond restoration and management on the biodiversity in both the ponds themselves and the surrounding area. We ourselves have no previous experience in doing any of this but have sought advice from the UCL Pond Restoration Research Group, Freshwater Habitats Trust and the RSPB.

Grants or any other source of financial assistance have not been identified but we are pushing ahead on a very limited budget rather than wait any longer.

This opportunity to be involved may be of interest to any Ecology and Conservation Management students or Geography students as a as a case study or basis of a dissertation but the offer is also open to local amateurs / enthusiasts to have an input or just people who might be interested in volunteering as and when a bit of help is required. Please email mark@ohanlon.co.uk with your contact details for more information.

Please, please share this post with anyone individuals or organisations who you feel might be interested in getting involved from the outset.

Clearing the brash from the pond

In between dodging the heavy showers, we have had a few hours armed with a billhook and some loppers to begin clearing the felled overhanging branches and brash from the pond.

It is slow work and hard graft plodding through the mud to get at the fallen willow branches and even harder work dragging them out onto firmer ground but it has to be done. I can see why many of these restoration projects advertise for volunteers; I am sure that the old adage of many hands making light work was never so true.

Restoring our farm ponds

On our fields at Hesketh Bank we seem to have a comprehensive selection of different farm pond types:

A derelict natural pond that has never been cleaned out for ages and is full of rubbish, general detritus and the odd bit of scrap metal.

A ‘ghost’ pond where a natural pond used to be but has been filled in to square up a field for agricultural use.

An overgrown man made pond that could possibly be a marl pit but, in my view, is more likely to be a bomb hole left over from the WWII attack on the boat yard.

A series of linear ponds created when the natural river bank was excavated to provide material for the new bank when the marsh land was reclaimed. The ponds have subsequently been drained to create additional grazing land.

These ponds all need bringing back to life for habitat and wildlife but it is a big and potentially expensive job. But, if we don’t try then nothing will change so this week we have made a start.

Job one was to begin the process with WLBC to ensure we don’t fall foul of any regulations or permissions as rework after the event would be unaffordable.

Job two was to call in the experts and we have had site visits from both Gavin Thomas, a Conservation Adviser for the RSPB and Helen Greaves, a PhD student from UCL who is involved in the science of farm pond restoration. Both were enthusiastic about the potential project and hopefully will be able to offer ongoing advice and support.

Job three was to drop all the overhanging willow branches of the derelict natural pond (Pond 1) as the DEFRA guidance is to do no farm tree work between 1 March and 31 August so as not to impact on the bird breeding season. The easy bit has been completed this morning but the clearing up may take a bit more time.

Pond 1 - Removing overhanging branches — Pond 1 – Removing overhanging branches

Pond 1 - Overgrown and full of rubbish — Pond 1 – Overgrown and full of rubbish