Rural life Centre countryside day

Awesome day at the rural life centre JDB contractors demonstrated a chainsaw that can cut up to 7ft diameter trees and I tried to light a fire using friction fire lighting I was rubbish but Gary had a laugh. Both are coming to the Fleet Pond Wildlife day on Sunday 26th may.

Footpath resurfacing at Fleet Pond

This weekend I am joined by The Fleet Pond Society and Hampshire Conservation Volunteers resurfacing the footpath from Westover road to Guildford road. We are scraping back the mud off the path, digging in edgeboards and then topping the path with hoggin and a fine top dress of coxwell self binding gravel. This gives the footpath a lovely finish and hopefully won't need replacing again for at least another 10 years. See you round the pond. Louise :D

Footpath closure at Fleet Pond

Unfortunately we must close the footpath between Wellington Avenue and Hemalite bay on Friday 25th April 9am - 4pm.

We are dead wooding the trees over the footpath.  We remove all of the deadwood in the trees over the footpaths for health and safety reasons.  If we can leave deadwood in the trees then we will as it provides a great habitat for a wide range of wildlife including wood peckers, beetle larvae and bats.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused please use an alternative route

See you around the Pond

Louise Greenwood
Fleet Pond Countryside Ranger
Hart Countryside Services

A new bridge at Fleet Pond

The culvert at Fleet pond is being replaced this week we've put it a temporary bridge. The culvert needs to be replaced because we have put 2 stream diversions off the gelvert stream into this ditch so we need to widen the culvert to take this extra flow. The stream diversion is important to hopefully reduce the amount of sediment that comes down the stream into the pond. The diversion has lots of kinks to slow down the water and hopefully allow the suspended sediment to settle out before entering the pond. Then in the future it will make removing the sediment less disruptive as it can be easily accessed from the diversion bed

Why are there islands in the middle of Fleet Pond?

Why are there islands in the middle of Fleet Pond? A couple of people have asked me this while I'm walking round. The islands have multiple functions these include ...

1) we have dredged the pond and the islands are a great way to use up the sediment recycling at its best. 

2) a major issue at Fleet Pond is the turbidity (murkyness of the water) this stops any plants growing so the quality of the water is very poor. In the past we used to have lots of plants in the water which is what the site got its SSSI (site of special scientific interest) designation for. To reduce this turbidity and get clearer water for plants to grow we need to reduce the amount of wave action across the lake. Before dredging, the deepest part of the lake was 0.8m this meant any wave action stirred up the silt from the bottom of the pond causing murky water. The deeper water and islands will hopefully create calm backwater areas to reduce this wave action. 

3) Finally the islands provide a great habitat for wildlife. The edges of the islands have been planted with reeds to help lessen the wave action and firm up the shape of the islands. One of the islands has been covered with shingle for nesting common terns.

We've had a great list of birds visit the new islands already including Bar-tailed Godwits, little ringed plovers, lapwing and many more

I can't wait to see what turns up next :D

Bee fly in your garden?

The bee fly is a great sign of spring these are great insects. Although they look a lot like a bee they are actually a species of fly. Flies only have one pair of functional wings where as bees have 2 pairs. Bee flies have a long proboscis which they use to get to nectar in long necked flowers. There are 9 species of bee fly in the UK and this one in the photo is the most common called the Large Bee-fly, Bombylius major. It is distinguishable by its strong dark mark across the front half of its wings.

Bee-flies have an interesting life history they parasitise solitary bees, wasps or beetles by laying their eggs into the entrance of a solitary bee, wasp or beetles burrow. The bee-fly larvae then eats (parasitises) the solitary bee, wasp or beetle larvae.

RSPB Hartley Wintney

Trying to find something to do this weekend?  Would like to learn more about the RSPB?
The RSPB have an exciting day planned in Hartley Wintney on Sunday 28th April.  There will be presentations, a children's activity table and refreshments.

1.15 pm Welcome and presentation ‘For the
Love of Nature—the RSPB’
2.30 pm Presentation ‘Heathlands’
4pm Film showing ‘ The Eagle Odyssey—
bringing the sea-eagle back to Scotland’

Come along to the Victoria Hall in Hartley Wintney drop in anytime 1pm - 5pm

Dawn Chorus Walk

Got a great view of a Song Thrush feeding on worms at Fleet Pond. The Song Thrush has an amazing call which is easily distinguished as they repeat phases about 3 times then change to another and so on. Fleet Pond has lots of Song Thrushes setting up territories and building nests at the moment. If you'd like to learn more about bird calls come along on my Dawn Chorus Walk Sunday 5th May 4:15am - 6:15am for more information and to book online visit www.threesixfive.org.uk/countryside/guided-walks

The hidden world of the Stinging Nettle

Many people have scarred memories of falling into nettle patches and emerging covered in stings but they are a really important habitat for wildlife. Small tortoiseshell and peacock caterpillars both feed on nettles. There are also lots of aphids which in turn attract lots of ladybirds. Nettles support over 40 species of insects, they are also a great habitat for birds. Whitethroats nest in stinging nettles and in the autumn the seeds provide a great food source for many species. So why not keep some nettles at the bottom of the garden. Can you think of any nice things to do with nettles?

The Duck House Returns To Elvetham Heath Pond

The Duck House had to be removed for some TLC which included a lovely paint job by Apprentice Ranger Izzy. The duck house was then returned to Elvetham Heath Pond by Ranger Duke and Apprentice Rangers Izzy and Will.  Looks like hard work rowing it out into the middle of the pond!  The duck house isn't just used by ducks other inhabitants include Moorhen, Coot and it has even provided a perch for Grey Heron and Black-headed Gull.

Swan ringing

Swan ringing at Fleet Pond is going really well we have caught 28 swans so far one is a control which means it was ringed elsewhere. We also caught a Canada Goose. If you see a bird with a ring please report it to www.ring.ac

Wild Garlic

Ummm Brookley wood at Fleet Pond smells amazing at the moment the wild garlic is coming out

Primroses

Yey the primroses are out at Hazeley Heath they look amazing the best place to see them is right next to the layby on the B3011

Swan ringing

Today we will have to close chestnut grove jetty for one hour as we are rounding up the swans to ring them for a monitoring project if you see a ringed bird please report it to www.ring.ac

A new stream diversion

A new stream diversion is being built at Fleet Pond. The diversion goes from the gelvert stream through the woodland then through the marsh and finally into the pond. The diversion has lots of kinks and pools to slow down the water and hopefully allow any sediment to settle out before it enters the pond. This diversion will take 1/3rd of the stream after a lot of rain. The diversion created last year will take another 1/3rd of the flow and the final flow will go straight into the lake and any sediment will hopefully be stopped by a sediment curtain at sandy bay so in the future any dredging of the pond won't need to be done by pontoon but can be done from the land.

Footpath resurfaced

The footpath between kenilworth road and bog myrtle glade at fleet pond has been resurfaced.

Bats

I had the great fortune to sneek into a bat handling course at Beale Park on Sunday a rare chance to get so close to these awesome mammals. The one with a darker face is a common pipistrel and the one with the paler face is a soprano pipistrel. Pipistrelles are the commonest British bats, weighing around 5 grams (less than a £1 coin). A single pipistrelle can eat 3,000 tiny insects in just one night!The common and soprano pipistrelles, were only identified as separate species in the 1990s. The two species look very similar and often the easiest way to tell them apart is from the frequency of their echolocation calls. 

American Skunk Cabbage

This plant is called American Skunk Cabbage and it is starting to flower. The flowers have a very strong smell of something dead or rotting hence the name skunk cabbage. We have a lot of this plant at Fleet Pond in Brookly wood. It is an invasive plant, with its very large leaves and rapid rate of spread, it can out-compete native plants and cause extensive damage locally. Given the popularity of this plant in gardens and its continued introduction into the wild, it is likely to increase.

Access track resurfaced

The access track to Fleet Pond Main Car Park off cove road is finally being resurfaced it should take a couple of weeks the road will not be closed for long periods of time. At the moment the contractors are breaking up the old road to take out all the pot holes and make a nice surface for the new road to bind to.

Colour ringed Cormorant

Exciting sighting today at Fleet Pond a cormorant with a green colour ring unfortunately I wasn't able to read the number if anyone sees the bird and is able to read the ring please let me know. Puffin Island (Wales) uses green rings it would be exciting if it from there!

Easter Trail big success!

The Fleet Pond Easter Trail was a great success over 500 people took part! The next event at Fleet Pond is a Wildlife Day on Sunday 26th May :D