The Gardening Club have been busy in our pond area, laying new stones in for the path, cutting back some of the trees and beginning the task of revitalising the ponds. When Miss Rowe and Bob first put our ponds in, around 10 years ago we had an abundance of frogs and toads in all three ponds. We would get tadpoles every year, then suddenly a few years ago it stopped. We might see an occasional frog or toad in the undergrowth but no sign in the ponds or the bath. The Outdoor Workers are assessing what has changed to cause this. The most noticeable difference has been the abundance of duck weed we now get. They are looking into how to reset the ponds. It is a fine balance of making changes that don’t effect the ecosystem that we’ve built up. We don’t want to remove all the tiny invertebrates, beneficial bacteria and biofilm that help to keep the water clear. We will need to introduce some new plants to try and counteract the duck weed and algae. This week they started just netting off the duckweed so they could have a good look at what’s underneath.
They also repaired the path edging stones and trimming back one of the trees that they thought was a bit of a inconvenient height over the path. They all had a go using the bow saw which is harder than it looks. After half term the work will continue until it’s too dark to get out, then we restart once the brighter mornings come in.
