Pond restoration and creation work – Winter 2009-2010
Tees Valley Pondscape has created 16 ponds and 14 scrapes between October 2009 and March 2010. Fifteen ponds have also been restored. Information on the sites is detailed below.
October 2009
Kellgate Green is cared for by the ‘Friends of Kellgate Green’ and is located between Stainton and Thornton villages. A small pond was created in the beautiful wetland area a few years ago and the site could easily support a second, larger pond. The nearby woodland – Thornton Plantation – has historic records of Great Crested Newts and the new pond was designed to support them.
More information about Kellgate Green can be found here:
www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/NorthEast/Default.aspx?parkID=813
"The latest pond at Kellgate Green"
November 2009
Mill Farm, near Guisborough is the last remaining Mill pond near the Eston Hills. This historically important pond was badly overgrown with water horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile) and trees were growing in the water to the north of the pond. The wall surrounding the pond could not been seen because of the spreading gorse bushes.
The Tees Valley Wildlife Trust volunteers cleared the gorse from around the pond, rebuilt the sluice, and cleared away the trees growing in the water. A 13 ton excavator was then used to remove the marestail.
Two-thirds of the pond was cleared, allowing an area relatively undisturbed for any wildlife present in the pond.
"Mill Farm pond before the clearance work"
"Mill Farm pond just after the clearance work"
Northumbrian Water – Sewage Treatment Works, Billingham, next to Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park, currently consists of 2 large concrete disused sludge lagoons and a pond. The pond hosts a good population of Great Crested Newts and it was felt that adding more ponds would be benefical to the population. Three new ponds and three scrapes were added to the site and the spoil was used to ‘line’ the edges of the concrete lagoons, which in time will allow plants to establish and improve these disused lagoons for biodiversity.
"The digger at Billingham NWL"
"The digger at Billingham NWL"
"One of the completed ponds at Billingham NWL"
"One of the completed ponds at Billingham NWL"
"One of the completed ponds at Billingham NWL"
"One of the completed ponds at Billingham NWL"
"The disused lagoons are lined with spoil to enhance biodiversity"
Thornton Plantation is the woodland adjacent to Kellgate Green and has historic records of Great Crested Newts and is a Local Wildlife Site. The pond has become very shaded by the trees surrounding the pond, allowing very little light to fall on the water. The pond itself was very choked up with leaves. This type of habitat is not suitable for Great Crested Newts – there is no open water for courtship rituals, nor any plants present for egg laying. A PSYM (invertebrate and plant survey) was carried out in 2009 that found no plant species and only 3 families of macroinvertebrates present.
The Tees Valley Wildlife Trust volunteers cleared the trees in a 2 metre radius around 2/3 of the pond, using some of the logs and branches to create hibernation piles. Machinery was then brought in to clear out half to two-thirds of the pond sediment (nearly all dead and rotting leaves). The area of the pond left untouched was to minimise disturbing any animals who over-wintered in the pond. Planting up of flora suitable for egg laying by Great Crested Newts is planned for May 2010.
The improvements done on this pond and the creation of a new pond in the nearby Kellgate Green will be a real wetland biodiversity boost for the area.
"Thornton Plantation Woodland Pond before the restoration work"
"Thornton Woodland Plantation - Volunteers at work"
"Thornton Woodland Plantation - after the digger had done clearance work"
Coatham Marsh is a Tees Valley Wildlife Trust reserve near Redcar; this large wetland area has 5 ponds, which over the years has become encroached with terrestrial grass. These ponds were cleared out and reprofiled and three scrapes were created nearby. This has increased the types and quality of wetlands on this site.
"The digger clears out one of the original ponds"
"One of the original ponds after restoration"
"One of the original ponds after restoration"
Lucite, Cassel Works in Billingham has a large grassland area with a series of ponds and small reed beds near its industrial buildings. The site has areas of species rich grassland and many interesting species are often seen on site, due to it being relatively undisturbed. A pond towards the edge of the site had two-thirds of the bulrushes cleared out by machine. This species is very fast growing and highly invasive, often shading out small aquatic plants. This pond is known to be good for dragonflies, one species which prefers bulrushes. Because of this some were left and with the help of INCA, a volunteer group at Lucite will be set up to manage this wildlife area.
Nearby 3 ponds and 6 scrapes were created to give a range of wetland habitat.
"The existing pond was cleared to reveal open water"
"Pond digging"
"Pond digging"
"Pond digging"
January 2010
South Works in Hartlepool is owned by Hartlepool Borough Council (the site will be used for the Tall Ships event for parking in 2010) and is accessible through the Corus site. Currently there are no ponds on the site, but a Great Crested Newt population resides in ponds within 500 metres of the site. Three ponds and two scrapes were created here.
Funding for this site was obtained through Pond Conservations ‘Million Ponds Project’ – more informaton can be found here:
www.pondconservation.org.uk/millionponds
"The pond digging begins at the South Works Corus site"
"The pond digging begins at the South Works Corus site"
"The pond digging begins at the South Works Corus site"
"One of the completed ponds at the South Works Corus site"
"One of the scrapes made to encourage wetland diversity"
February 2010
Guisborough Forest and Walkway, have a series of pond near the Pinchinthorpe Visitor Centre. These have become very overgrown with Bulrush and Common Reed, which has greatly reduced the amount of open water that was important for landing waterfowl and for newt courting rituals. Much of the rushes and reeds have been removed and ducks have already moved in! The Friends of Guisborough Forest and Walkway have helped fund work on this site.
More information about the site can be found here:
www.bbc.co.uk/tees/content/articles/2007/09/28/nob_guisborough_forest_feature.shtm
"One of the ponds prior to restoration work"
"Ponds after some reed clearance"
"Ponds after some reed clearance"
"Ponds after some reed clearance"
"Ponds after some reed clearance and tidy up"
March 2010
A series of small ponds has been created just off Silverton Lane, Guisborough in a field used for part of the year for horses. The field is very damp and flooding in the local allotments and housing estate is a common problem. Five ponds were created the the boggiest area of the field and were filling with water as soon as they were complete. Frogspawn was already present in the area and records show newts are also present, which we hope will colonise the ponds.
"The site before the work - wetland plants already present"
"The digger begins the first pond..."
"Ponds being created"
"A newly created pond"
A newly created pond, already looks the part
"Networks of ponds"
"Newly created pond"
"Newly created pond"
Sir Plants-a-lot garden centre, Billingham is the final site to have a large pond created in the last week of March
"The grassland before the pond creation work began"
"Digging begins"
"Pond digging...."
"Pond digging....."
