The Ponds
A large pond is a crucial habitat for any wildlife garden. The first Roots and Shoots pond was built in 1989. It was planted with a wide range of native pond plants, but these included greater reedmace (Typha latifolia), Common Reed (Phragmites communis) and Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris) — all three of which had completely filled the pond by 1999.
In addition the reeds had punctured the pond liner — reed has rhizomes that get everywhere beneath the base of the pond and under pond liners and the new shoots are both very sharp and very persistent. Any slight grip onto a butyl liner and the reed shoots will puncture it. Reed beds, a fine feature for the area of a large pond, should, therefore, be kept well separated from the pond if a butyl liner is being used. There was little permanent water in the pond in 1999 and although there was an excellent population of frogs and common newts (they will breed in any bit of reasonably persistent water), there was little variety in the invertebrate life to be found during the (very difficult) pond dipping sessions.
During January and February of 2000, therefore, the pond was emptied and dug out. A large quantity of the original water was kept in water butts and old dustbins. The newts and frogs began to return as the work was being done - which enabled a complete capture of the population (they were temporarily housed in the water butts). We recorded 250 adult newts and 50 frogs. The earth removed, plus more clay, was built into a ridge across the original pond - isolating the reed bed to give roughly 2/3 pond, 1/3 reed bed. The job had to be done quickly, both to house the returning amphibians and because of other work programmes. The depression was re-lined to form a new, deep pond within the original pond liner. It was hoped that the new shape and ridge would allow some control of the invading reeds that would undoubtedly attempt to re-colonise the pond.
The new pond, though smaller than the 1989 pond, is still a substantial size and of good depth. It can be maintained more easily than the original pond. It was re-stocked in spring 2000 with Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), Water Forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides), Curly Pond Weed (Potamogeton crispus an oxygenator), Purple-loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Water Plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica), Great Spearwort (Ranunculus lingua) and Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus). The original white water lily (Nymphaea alba), which had not been flowering, was rescued and re-planted. It has recovered well and now flowers regularly.
The newts increased even beyond the 250 population size of February 2000, with the frog spawn of March completely surrounded by a nibbling ring of adult newts and by June it was estimated to be around 750–800 strong. It was so easy to see adult newts, with so many rising for air at any one time that a female blackbird with chicks devised a method of hunting that seems to be unique and unrecorded elsewhere. She would sit on the edge of the pond dipping platform watching the pond. She would concentrate on a newt rising. Just before it broke the surface she would take off and scoop the newt out of the pond in flight with her bill just at the moment that it took its gulp of air. She landed on the ridge by the reed bed, adjusted the newt in her bill then flew back to the concrete flags by the dipping platform. Here, the newt was beaten to death then carried into the cherry tree above where the blackbird chicks waited. Getting it down the chick’s throat was the next challenge. She would repeat this many times during the day and so was a significant predator and population control.
Each year the species records show the gradual colonisation of the new pond by an increasing variety of invertebrate life — two damselfly species in the first season, a third species in 2003, mayfly and caddis fly species, two water boatman species and so on. The Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) also dramatically increased its numbers in 2003. For more details of the invertebrate records see the species lists section.