pond digging

IMPORTED POST FROM OLD BLOG. ORIGINAL DATE: 17/08/2007

We cycled up to the wood again today, sticking to the road this time - took about 40mins, but I think we'll get quicker as we get fitter...

Our neighbours in the wood were there today as well, and we're hoping to join them for a BBQ there tomorrow, weather permitting. We also happened to meet some people looking at an adjacent wood that is still for sale. They seemed quite keen to manage it properly, but we'll wait and see if they go ahead in buying it - we looked at loads before we chose one.

After eating our lunch in the wood, we got on with a bit of bracken-bashing, before going to check on the destroyed rhododendrons - both are invasive plants in a woodland, so we need to keep them under control - here's Tracy in action:


We've been wanting to try making a pond for a while, and today we had a go. We sited it where there's a spring at one end of our wood, so there should be a steady, if very small, flow of water to fill it:


The pond is only temporary at the moment - we want to see how well it works. We made it by moving an ancient chestnut log across the gully, digging out a bit behind it, and using the clay to seal around the log. While doing this we saw a frog (which we managed not to disturb), so hopefully we're doing it in the right place. Here's the finished pond:




The small amount of water in it collected while we were digging it - there was more by the time we left, and I'll upload another picture after our next visit. Of course, it's entirely possible that a wild boar will have come and trampled the lot!

Before we headed home we picked some blackberries on the wayleave. Most still need a bit more time to ripen, but we got enough in 10mins to have when we get home:


One other bit of news - our slasher arrived today. Again, it's a "vintage" tool, rather than a new one, bought for a reasonable price on ebay. It needs a bit of sharpening and then we can put it to use in the manner described by its name! (I think you'd get arrested if you walked down the street with it...)

Mike