This week was another new site for the Green Gym guess what - a pond! This time just round the corner from Seagrove Bay in Seaview at the bottom of Solent View road. The site has been improved over the last few years with the pond being dug out and lined and a new hedge planted around the perimeter.
The local pond warden had made quite a few suggestions about the work required, together with a fairly comprehensive report from Ray at the Footprint Trust.
There was quite a large amount of reed mace in the pond lots of which was removed, bramble and overhanging trees around the edges were cut back and also a large ash removed to allow more light into the area. A superb turnout as always, and as you can see from the before and after pictures, it’s amazing what we can do in a couple of hours.
An interesting find near the site was a fungi called Shaggy Ink Cap, which was in its early stages of growth. This is from the family Coprinaceae known as the ink caps. The shaggy ink cap or lawyer's wig, is a common species, edible when young. As it grows older the cap turns to a black liquid as it starts to decay. The genus takes its name from the common ink cap C. atramentarius, whose ageing caps were formerly used for making ink.
The local pond warden had made quite a few suggestions about the work required, together with a fairly comprehensive report from Ray at the Footprint Trust.
There was quite a large amount of reed mace in the pond lots of which was removed, bramble and overhanging trees around the edges were cut back and also a large ash removed to allow more light into the area. A superb turnout as always, and as you can see from the before and after pictures, it’s amazing what we can do in a couple of hours.
An interesting find near the site was a fungi called Shaggy Ink Cap, which was in its early stages of growth. This is from the family Coprinaceae known as the ink caps. The shaggy ink cap or lawyer's wig, is a common species, edible when young. As it grows older the cap turns to a black liquid as it starts to decay. The genus takes its name from the common ink cap C. atramentarius, whose ageing caps were formerly used for making ink.
The Credits..! Many thanks to Carrie and Eddie for the photographs and to Carrie for the editorial & "nature lesson". We would also like to thank all the local people who came along to help on the day - especially the kind lady who supplied us with the cakes at teatime...!!!!
PS. The following arrived from Mark, just as the blog was being published......
A truly massive turn out of over 40 people worked with us this week. Many thanks to the community there as we had local residents, pond wardens and Parish Council members joining our numbers of regular volunteers. We were clearing some of the Reedmace which had been particularly successful there. We removed or cut back around 50% of the vegetation leaving plenty for cover and for regeneration. We also left the Bulrush and Pendulous Sedge which were much less abundant. Around the rest of the site we cleared back some of the brambles and felled an Ash tree both actions have gone a long way to open up the site. In addition we moved a small tree which had been planted in the memory of Roy Henley of the Seaview Garden Society, this was done to save the tree as it was in a very poorly state under the canopy of a much bigger Ash tree.
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