Today we went fishing. Seven volunteers set out to remove the goldfish fry from the new pond. Well we caught and relocated hundreds - that is no exaggeration -but hundreds are left.
We brought pond plants which were added to the pond and tried to dog proof the hole where a gate ought to be.
Today five volunteers scythed Bowsland Meadow (well a part of it). We concentrated on areas around wild flower plantings and cleared a good area. We shared the meadow with BTCV’s NVQ group who were working on the fence around the new pond. We visited the pond and caught a couple of fish. Sara has teken them home to try and identify them. They are some species of carp but whether local of chinese (goldfish) we do not yet know. Sara made a point of asking Pual Humphries if he was fitting a gate but unfortunately he has had his tools stolen again so the gate is in doubt.
We will be here again next week but progress will be slower since Paul has reclaimed his scythes.
Today’s GG was a walk around (in the event) the northern and middle sections of the reserve. Six volunteers assessed for potential GG projects whilst collecting litter at the same time. A number of possible projects have been identified and I will circulate that list after next weeks GG which will be to survey the southern section.
Several points of interest:
It was a lovely day.
There were bumblebees and butterflies all over the place, small whites, small tortoiseshell, orange tips, specked woods etc.
The lower newt pond, you know the new one, is full of juvenile fish, literally hundreds of them, fish not amphibians, although I did see a common newt in there. Possibly Rudd (lots of reddish fins) possibly Carp, probably Goldfish. So either we have two newt ponds and a fish pond or we have a serious amount of netting to do.
One project we looked at in some detail, the draining of the middle plantation. We have devised a coherent scheme which we would like to start A.S.A.P but John has asked that he survey the site first.
We also looked at the Patchway Brook along the same middle section. It is free of any major obstruction for (as far as we could tell) most of it’s length. But there is some rubbish there tho’ not on a massive scale. So when the 3BNCG clean one stresm we will do the other.
Next week we will survey the southern section meet at the Tool Store as usual
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