Thursday 18 November 2010

Fleet Pond Winter Works 2010












Over the past few years, Hart District Council’s Countryside Service and Fleet Pond Society have been working on improving the wetland habitats around Fleet Pond. This work has involved clearance of trees and scrub to allow wetland plant species to flourish.
As a result of this work, the marsh and reed bed habitats have been restored in several areas, with rare species of plants and animals being recorded once again, some for the first time in 80 years!



Natural England has also upgraded the conservation status of the habitats from unfavourable to recovering. It is vital that this work continues to be able to achieve favourable conservation status.



This winter one HA of young secondary woodland on the edge of Coldstream Marsh will be felled in order to continue with our restoration work. Leaf litter and a layer of topsoil and plant roots will then be scraped off to expose the old seed bank of wetland plants. The resultant material will be banked up on the edge of the marshland. The trees that have encroached on the marsh over the years, shade out the wetland plants and reducing the biodiversity.
The area of young woodland is very low in biodiversity and has very poor wildlife value as it does not provide adequate habitat for birds, bats and other species that need trees. This work will allow the wetland plants to colonise once again and will ensure that a greater number of species can use this habitat.

Fleet Pond has a new ranger


Fleet Pond is managed by Hart District Council’s Countryside Service and
Tim Ackroyd is the new ranger for the Nature Reserve.

Quote: Tim Ackroyd says: ‘I have been working for Hart District Councils Countryside Service as a Countryside Ranger for over three years and previously worked as an assistant ranger for Hampshire County Council based at Yateley Common’. ‘I have enjoyed the experience of looking after a variety of interesting sites over the years and I am very excited to take on my new role as Fleet Pond ranger’

It is a very exciting time to be involved in the management of Fleet Pond. The Nature Reserve is undergoing some important changes over the next ten years with significant restoration of habitats and infrastructure. These changes will hopefully bring about considerable benefits, both for wildlife and for people.