Pond in the Park

At the meeting 1st October the Bloom Team was keen to keep the two ponds in the Village in good condition, and to check what wildlife was living in them.

2nd October Warwickshire Wildlife Trust was contacted for advice. They will get back.

Ann Pearson remembered that Tame Valley Wetlands had given a talk to Hurley and District Gardening Club and thought this might be a source of advice.

She gave them a call and Tarik Bodasing said he could come over to have a look on his way home.

He said that the pond by the pub was in good condition and best left alone.

The pond in the park would benefit from some of the trees being cut back to let in more light, but otherwise it was OK.

Tarik said he had got some coir mats embedded with waterside plants that we could have free. This sounded a good idea and North Warwickshire Borough Council was contacted for permission to plant them. On 7th October Simeon Packard and Andy Watkins came to view the area. Andy, ic trees, said he was over budget so could not help with cutting back trees. Simeon gave permission for the planting should go ahead. He added that a pond dipping platform would be a good idea.

On 10th October Tim McCarty, John Stevens and Jim Pearson set about clearing away brambles from the edge of the pond.

The mats were ordered from Tarik and on 16th October they were put in place by John Stevens, Julie Stacey and Jim Pearson.

It's amazing how quickly things can get done when someone says "free".

On 4th December Tim McCarty, John Stevens and Jim Pearson fixed an owl box in a tree in the woods in the park.

As decided at the Parish Council meeting efforts were made to improve the path into the park from the middle gate.
On 11th January Dan Broomfield, Heide, Simon and Angus Goody, Keith Reid and Jim Pearson collected some shale from Charity Farm. Three trips with a tractor and digger were made. The shale was tipped in the dip between the woods and the grass to cover what had effectively become a stream.
This seemed to be effective but after a while it was seen to be blocking the flow of water.
Tony Parker had the good idea of digging a channel to put in a plastic pipe to let the water through and this has done the job. It needs to be tidied up a bit.

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