The Dredgers Return to Fleet Pond

The dredging equipment will soon return to Fleet Pond to begin the next phase of the ongoing Restoration Project. This phase is funded by the Environment Agency’s ‘Water Framework Directive’ and Natural England’s ‘Conservation & Enhancement Scheme’. 

This season’s main dredging work will take place in Hemelite Bay, the area nearest to the railway station. The resulting silt will be used to create extensions to the Wellington and Northern Reedbeds (marked on the map), which will then be planted up with reeds.

Sediment will hopefully be taken offsite during this phase; we are awaiting lab results to help confirm where this might be.

Cressida Wheelwright, Natural England’s Land Management Lead Adviser says: “This innovative project will remove the silt that has built up over years in Fleet Pond, improving water quality and as a result creating a better environment for rare plant and animal species to thrive.”

A sediment curtain will be installed in Brookly Bay to reduce the amount of silt washing down the Brookly Stream and entering the pond. This will contain the silt in a small area near the shore allowing future dredging to take place from the shore eliminating the need to carry out expensive in-lake dredging from pontoons.
The Pond has benefited hugely from the work already done. Cllr Sara Kinnell, Hart District Council Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Environmental Promotions says:
“This is an exciting time; the new islands have provided a great breeding habitat for birds at Fleet Pond and marshland plants and reeds have started to grow on the new islands”.

The Fleet Pond Restoration Project is an award winning, £1 million project to improve the water quality, led by Hart District Council in partnership with the Fleet Pond Society, Natural England, the Environment Agency & the Ministry of Defence.

Colin Gray, Chairman of Fleet Pond Society says:
“We hope that in this season we can start planting reeds on the new eastern islands to bring more benefits to our wildlife diversity.”

Ashwell's Copse Chainsaw Carving

The ash totem pole at Ashwell's Copse, Hook will be carved by Chainsaw artist Will from Friday 22nd November 

Footstep Closure

The Concrete Steps at Fleet Pond from the T-Jetty to the Fleet Train Station car park will be closed from Sunday 24th November due to improvement works to the Fleet Train Station car park. Please use an alternative route. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Heron

Can you see the heron fishing down the Brookly Stream?

Rhinoceros Beetle

This is a rhinoceros beetle. They are herbivores, they are very strong and use there great strength and the projection on there face to burrow into leaf litter and soil. The horns on males are also used to fight for females. This beetle is a male, females only gabe a small bump instead of a full horn. The beetles sometimes rub their wing cases against their abdomen to make a hissing sound to scare off predators

Hidden nests

Now the leaves are starting to fall off the trees they unveil lots of hidden secrets like this nest

Bug Hotel

Have you seen the bug hotel at hunts common? This is a great way to provide a home for wildlife in your garden. It attracts bugs and beasties which in turn attract predators like birds and mammals. It doesn't need to be as big as this one just a pile of logs and leaves.

WE Restaurant Fund Raising

WE had a great time at the Fleet Pond Society dinner. Lovely food at the WE restaurant, Fleet and lots of money raised for the Clearwater Campaign

Bluebells at Fleet Pond

The Last of Summer Wine Friday Fleet Pond Volunteers were out in the fresh Autumn air working hard clearing bracken on the woodland edge at Fleet pond on Friday. Removing the bracken
gave more bluebells a chance to thrive last year, and we hope to see them benefit this spring now the sunlight can penetrate the soil. 

We aim to make the woodland walks around Fleet pond even more enjoyable by putting in the hard graft now  Ranger Rach.

Comet ISON

Comet ISON should be visible with the naked eye this weekend. The weather looks good so why not have a look. The comet has been named 'the comet of the century' it has been increasing in brightness over the past couple of days so can now be seen with the naked eye. It is now in 'full outburst mode'. The comet is heading towards the sun and could potentially brighten everyday until the end of November. If it lasts it could be brighter than the moon and even be seen during the day. The comet is so close to the sun it is very close to the horizon so hopefully can be seen at sunrise. A clear dark sky with open countryside is the best place to see it. Good luck stargazing 

Redwings

This is a redwing they are a beautiful bird often heard and not seen. They migrate at night and make a loud CEEEEP as they fly. They spend the winter in the UK feeding on berries and apples and they breed in Scandinavia. Lots can be heard flying over Fleet Pond.

It's guess the bird time what species of bird is this?

Long Tailed Tits

Long tailed tits are a very interesting species. Once out of the nest they moult all of their feathers unlike most species which just moult a few and then wait until they have bred to moult the rest. Long tailed tits take the smallest UK ring which is 2mm and only weighs 0.04g. The oldest long tailed tit recorded was 8 years 8 months where as the similar sized and weight wren is only 6 years 8 months. It is thought that the long tailed tit lives longer because of its cooperative breeding. This means that close family members help defend the nest and help with feeding. This allows the breeding pair more time to feed themselves and gives them a better chance of surviving the winter. The long tailed tit has a strong family relationship hence why you rarely see just one on your bird feeder 

Corvid roost

A great Corvid roost in the trees and electricity pylons next to Edenbrook Country Park with nearly 600 jackdaws and rooks 

Bird Ringing

Have you seen a ringed bird on Fleet Pond or in your garden? If you can read the ring number please report it to www.ring.ac

Beaver activity at Fleet Pond

A recent group of local Beavers joined Rangers Rachel and Will one Friday evening to learn about nocturnal creatures. They enjoyed the Fleet Pond mysterious and amazing woodland as the sun was setting. The beavers learnt about ground beetles, bats and other wildlife by doing a variety of fun activities. Ranger Rach.

Duck House at Elvetham Heath

Rangers Duke and Will were on the boat at Elvetham Heath last week. The duck house had gotten dislodged during the high winds. The duck house has been moored up on the edge for the past week to stop it drifting around. Duke and Will took it back out into the middle of the lake to anchor it for the ducks to use again next summer 

Egyptian geese

Have you seen the Egyptian Geese at Chestnut Grove. They are a beautiful goose species (my favourite). They were introduced to the UK in the 17th Century as an ornamental goose, which escaped into the wild and now breed successfully. The main population can be found in Norfolk. 

Male and female Egyptian Geese are identical in plumage but the juveniles lack the distinct facial markings.

Footpath repairs

Ranger Rachel did a great job yesterday and filled in some of the muddy puddles around the pond with hoggin we now need to wait for these to set and then we'll pop top dressing on. Hopefully it will be a slightly less muddy walk around fleet pond

Soil Sample

Rangers Louise and Leigh went out on the boat at Fleet Pond to take soil samples from the new islands to see if the sediment is suitable for the next phase of the restoration project which involves taking the sediment offsite. Fingers crossed!

Bird Ringing at Hazeley Heath

Bird ringing at Hazeley Heath we caught a nuthatch. This is an amazing bird he crawls up and down trees (unlike treecreepers who can only go up a tree and they fall down) feeding on insects in and behind the bark. This bird is a male because he has a rusty red patch under his wing where as females are buff all over their tummy



We have had a great bird ringing session at Hazeley Heath with lots of finches and tits. Do you know what species this bird is?

Woodpecker Nest

Unfortunately this branch snapped out in the wind and has exposed this old nest. It is possibly an old Green Woodpecker nest. Green woodpeckers mainly feed on ants they have such a large tongue (10cm) that it has to curl around its skull. The tongue has barbs on it to pick up all the ants yummy!

Late Woodpigeon Nest

A late woodpigeon nest can you see her?

Cormorant Fishing

Lots of fish in hemelite bay, which has even attracted a cormorant 

Red Kite at Hartley Wintney

Red kite flying over Hartley Wintney Central Commons being chased by a crow

Ivy

Ivy is a great source of food lots of red admiral butterflies use them as a nectar source before migrating and wood pigeons find them irresistible and can be often heard bashing there wings while trying to get into the densest parts

Swan Update

Good news the swan we rescued last week from being tangled up in fishing wire is doing well she is at chestnut grove this morning enjoying a lovely breakfast of grain with the other swans. The bruising on her foot has now almost disappeared. She was ringed last year in the swan round up so she has an individual number which helps us track her

Woodpigeon

A late woodpigeon nest can you see her?

Green Woodpeckers

Unfortunately this branch snapped out in the wind and has exposed this old nest. It is possibly an old Green Woodpecker nest. Green woodpeckers mainly feed on ants they have such a large tongue (10cm) that it has to curl around its skull. The tongue has barbs on it to pick up all the ants yummy!

Environment Agency at Fleet Pond

On Friday we had a great group of volunteers from the Environment Agency spend a day at Fleet Pond clearing scrub on the Dry Heath next to the Picnic Area. They did a great job pulling up all the small birches roots and all to help conserve our heathlands and stop the heather being encroached and shaded out by the birch saplings. They had a great big fire and luckily the weather wasn't too bad. Thank you for all your hard work!

Fleet Pond Volunteers

We had six new recruits to the Fleet Pond monthly volunteer group on Sunday morning! Every one worked hard clearing birch that had encroached on the Dry Heathland next to the Main Car Park. Now you can see the heather more clearly and the cut stumps were treated and roots and brash carefully burnt on our fire site. The picnic area was tidied up a bit after the recent storm damage too. Some of the Fleet Pond Explorer Scouts also joined us and enjoyed the hot potatoes and famous Mars cake!

The over grown footpath leading from the car park is also clear enabling easier access for wheel chairs and buggies.

Thank you to all who came and we hope you had a very enjoyable day!

Ranger Rach.

Would you like to volunteer at Fleet Pond?

We are going to be clearing scrub on the dry heath on Sunday for the monthly Fleet Pond Volunteer task if you would like to join us or would like to find out more information about the Fleet Pond Volunteer Group please contact the Hart Countryside Services on 01252 623443 or email countryside@hart.gov.uk

Odiham Common Update

Latest news Autumn 2013

As autumn sets in lots of work has already been completed on the Common. We managed to make hay this year on the southern meadows but it was not quite good enough to go as cattle feed so is going to be made into compost.

Contractors have cleared approx 1.8 hectares of birch scrub and hazel coppice in the last few weeks at the northern end of the main part of the common. Wood chip generated from some of this work has been used to fill wet muddy hollows in paths / rides so as to try and improve walking and riding conditions.

Whilst we have tried to keep disruption to a minimum unfortunately some rides have been muddied by the works but the ground has been smoothed over. Please be aware that it will take until later in spring for the ground to firm up in these areas so if possible please use alternative routes around these areas.

The hazel stools that have been cut will be fenced around to stop deer browsing and allowed to re-generate with a view to cutting them again in 8 – 10 years. They were last cut approx. 10 years ago. This sort of cyclical management creates ‘honey pots’ of wildlife value within woodlands. It may look a bit bleak initially but the longer term benefits are worth it.

As we head into November National Grid contractors will be clearing trees and scrub under the large pylons that cross the common on the eastern edge. This is necessary for safety reasons to do with the power cables. It does mean that the Common will retain an area of heathland which is great for reptiles, butterflies and other insects. Again this may look a little unsightly at first but will soon look great later in the spring and beyond.

All of the works mentioned above are part of the Common management plan and Environmental Stewardship agreement with Natural England. Further similar works will go on in the future.

Enjoy your walking and riding on the Common.