Early successes
After the pond’s restoration in 1980, 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 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.
Later a hedge of hawthorn and field maple was 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.
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. They are now flourishing well-established trees which have to be cut back from time to time.
Colonisation by nature was also very 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 frogs were seen taking to the water to spawn.
More recent wildlife news
Frogs continue to spawn in the pond but numbers have been low. This could be due to disease caused by Ranavirus which is spreading across SE England since 2021 and killing frogs. We have had a lot of spawn in the water in Spring 2023 and subsequent years but not many adult frogs have been seen.
We often have a heron standing on the island and looking for fish, or other prey. This year, 2026 with the low water we had two herons fishing, as the fish were clearer for them to see perhaps. In the summer we caught and rehomed a number of very large carp which were struggling in the muddy de-oxygenated water, their dorsal fins clearly visible. It is probably good long term that they have been rehomed as their presence was damaging the water plants and also probably reducing levels of insects. We do hope the public don’t rehome any more unwanted fish in there!
The low water did not keep the ducks away as they are regularly fed – we have counted up to 40. Other visiting birds have included a grey wagtail, black-headed gulls and swallows. Moorhens have adopted the pond, which is an encouraging sign as these are normally very shy birds, and this year have produced 2 broods of chicks.
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.
People sometimes ask about our non-native inhabitants, the terrapins. These were unwanted pets released into the pond many years ago. Although they do not strictly belong to the local ecosystem there is no real evidence that they are doing harm to baby birds. Even supposing they could be caught, they cannot be rehomed in another pond because they aren’t a UK native species, so at present are being left alone. We have red-eared sliders and also musk turtles, which look like large stones – they are harder to spot than the basking sliders. Neither sort can breed successfully in the UK as we do not have long enough very hot spells.
Following on from the drought in summer 2026 we are doing extensive work in the pond, with some professional help, reducing the size of the reed banks and the waterlily clumps and planting some marginals in new places. This should encourage more insect life in the longer term and make it easier for us to keep water levels higher with less being drawn by the reeds.
We are keeping a record of the seasonal plants and animals of the pond and hope to publish it here in the near future.
Ducklings by the bank in 2023
2026: some of the rescued fish in a temporary pond, showing how big they were
