Friday 23 March 2012

Pond Surveys

Wednesday 21st March 2012

Armed with a net, a white tray & guides to pond invertebrates and pond plants our group of 5 set off to survey some of the Gibside ponds. Our first port of call was to the pond in the field adjacent to The Orangery which, sadly, was bone dry!
Next stop was Warrenhaugh where there were 2 ponds to survey. The smaller pond had 3 mallards swimming on it, or it did until we arrived!

A red kite hovered overhead as we commenced our survey.

Mallards on small pond -  Warrenhaugh
We netted a mixture of invertebrates including caddis fly larvae, mayfly & stonefly nymphs, midge larvae & pupae, greater & lesser waterboatmen and springtails. Frog spawn was evident in both ponds.


Frog Spawn

Then it was time for a coffee break which was taken in the Pontop Hut before heading off to Parkfields which had another 2 ponds to survey. On the way up to the Parkfields Ponds we noticed that the blackthorn in the hedges was in blossom.

Blackthorn Blossom
Arriving at the larger of the two ponds we came across some of our volunteer colleagues who were busy digging a hole in preparation for the creation of a logpile which will hopefully provide shelter for newts.


Matthew & Mike hard at work

We had our catch of the day at the larger of the two ponds, a small fish of some sort.

Andy examines his catch
 After lunch taken sitting by the Ha-ha in Parkfields we headed off to The West Woods where there were three small ponds to survey.

Fishing

Dragonfly Nymph


Hopefully we will be able to repeat the survey in a few weeks to see how the pond life is developing.

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