Weeding birch saplings on the dry Heath

Today the countryside rangers Louise and Rachel are on fleet pond with the Hampshire conservation volunteers weeding the birch saplings on the railway wood (by boathouse corner) This is a really important job as the birch spreads over the Heath enriching the soil and shading out the heather. By clearing the birch saplings we give the heather the best chance to recolonise.

Also on the pond the fleet pond society are working alongside the fleet lions to clear the scrub on the old de havillon launch site

The access track and jetty is nearly complete

Along with the new access track from the main car park to boathouse corner
we have also installed a new jetty at boathouse corner.

Further stages of dredging involve the silt being removed from the pond in
dumper trucks and transported to a dewatering site.

The jetty will allow the diggers to easily drive on and off of the pontoons
and provide a great spot to view the pond, feed the birds and fish from.

The new access track is permanent and will allow access for dredging in the future when maintenance works are needed.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused for more information please contact
countryside@hart.gov.uk or phone 01252 623443

Water Rail on Fleet Pond

The Water Rail on Fleet Pond have had a great year. While walking past the North East marsh (between Boat house Corner and Coldstream Marsh) you will be able to often hear the water rails calling to each other. They have a very distinctive call which is often explained as a squealing pig. Next time you are down by the pond have a listen to one of the most elusive birds on the pond. 

Water rails are related to Moor hens in the rail family and have large feet and long bills for catching small fish and invertebrates in the water. The are very secretive birds and will prefer to scuttle off through a dense reedbed than fly.

See you around the Pond

Louise Greenwood
Fleet Pond Countryside Ranger
Hart District Council

New track at Fleet Pond

A new track is currently being fitted at Fleet Pond from the main car park off cove road to Boat House Corner. This track is integral to the next phase of works to allow silt to be extracted from the Pond.

There will heavy machinery in the area over the next month. Please follow any warning signs and instructions, sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Thank you for your cooperation.

An eerie Halloween walk around Fleet Pond

The Halloween walks around Fleet Pond on Tuesday night was a great success!  We had a great turn out with 25 people in assorted costumes including a skeleton, a pirate and a ghost.  We started off in the main car park off cove round and walked down to boathouse corner with each person holding a green glow stick it created an eerie trail.

At boathouse corner we listened to an interesting story about a recent ghost siting and then played pumpkin bowling which involved knocking down corn on the cob pins with a pumpkin.

We walked around the pond which is very scary at night time listening to the creatures that come out at night.  While walking around we heard the tale of the young lady who fell in the pond and played several other games including...

The Monster Mash (halloween version of musical statues)
Musical Pumpkins (halloween version of musical chairs)
Witch hunt (a scavenger hunt for witch cut outs)

It was a great day for everyone.  We can't wait until next halloween, where we are going to do pumpkin carving :)

Our next activity is our Christmas Wreath Making Workshops which are on Saturday 8th December and Sunday 9th December 10am - 12pm, 2pm - 4pm and 6pm - 8pm

To find out more information and to book your place please visit www.threesixfive.org.uk/countryside/guided-walks

Checking the health of the pond

Every 2 weeks a member of johns associates can be seen on a boat around fleet pond checking the levels of oxygen and the clarity of the water during the works this information can then help us make decisions on whether the turgidity curtain (the long blue sausage across the lake) needs to be moved. The curtain stops any of the silts that are stirred up during the dredging moving across the lake . There is another turbid out curtain on the outflow this stops any silt going out of the pond and into the little pond outside the heron on the lake pub.

By monitoring the oxygen and clarity we can also look at the effects of the dredging on the fish. Luckily the results so far are showing the sediment is settling out quickly during the works and the works have already created some clear water.

Grass snake on fleet pond

All our reptiles are now getting ready for hibernation over the winter we spotted this one outside the rangers station probably looking for a nice warm place to spend the winter