Townsend Pond

The big clean out

Townsend Pond or the Horse Pond as it is known in the village had reached crisis point. Almost completely silted up and giving off a foul smell when the water was low, it was becoming a bit of an environmental hazard. Long gone are the days when you could just get a gang organised and clear it out. Forms have to be filled in,notifications given and other ponderous red tape hurdles jumped.

Pond cleaning comes way down the list on priorities for any level of local government or agency so step in the Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire  Wild life Trust along with some determined  Parish councillor activity and you get a result courtesy of a Lottery Environmental Grant for £10,000.  Certain criteria had to be met and managed but the result is a clean deep pond with a vibrant wildlife habitat and a viewing platform for serious pond dippers.

The work was carried out by Lattenbury Services who did a first class job.

 

A couple of thing of particular note were the benign weather conditions in January 2011 when the project started. No rain, the pond already low because of previous dry weather and the sunny days whilst the work was undertaken.

The second point was the remarkable cobble base that had been laid in previous times. When it was done, nobody’s quite sure but it was a sturdy piece of work and the lads carrying out the work this time were careful not to break this surface.

Another fact about Townsend Pond is that it used to stretch right to the road edge with a modest single rail wooden fence as the barrier. The pond was partially filled by using excavated soil when Great Gidding was put on to Mains Sewage in the late 1960’s.

 

 

 

 

The excavation of the Diamond Jubilee Pond

Creating a new pond

After mulling over the idea of how to bring another environmental benefit to the Jubilee Wood
it was fairly obvious that a new pond was called for. The site was quickly identified within
the wood, the wettest part ! So on a hot September day our local digger operator, Jeff turned
up with his JCB and was told to create an interesting shaped pond.

Great Gidding Jubilee Wood pond excavation. Photo: Michael Trolove

Nothing startling was unearthed as the dig commenced only the usual Hanslope series top soil
overlying the standard chalky boulder clay below.

Great Gidding Jubilee Wood pond excavation. Photo: Michael Trolove

In an average year when you dig in this clay the soil will stick inside the bucket. Not this time
round, its as dry as it could be.

Great Gidding Jubilee Wood pond excavation. Photo: Michael Trolove

The final shape of the pond follows best advice in that you need a deep area sloping sides and
a gradual slope to a shallow area.

Shaping the spoil heaps - Great Gidding Jubilee Wood pond excavation. Photo: Michael Trolove

The excavated clay soil was shaped into a stockpile and then covered with top soil and was
immediately sown with grass seed.

Great Gidding Jubilee Wood pond excavation. Photo: Michael Trolove

The job done, now we awaited the rain and we’re still waiting 6 months hence.

The first wet in the pond Great Gidding Jubilee Wood pond excavation. Photo: Michael Trolove

Taking a lead from our other recently cleaned out ponds we added stones to create a firm base.

Foggy morning and the Jubilee pond. Photo: Michael Trolove

Five months on and the 2011/12 drought is borne out by the low winter rainfall and the struggle to naturally fill the pond.

Remarkably over the weekend of the 28th and 29th of April 2012 a deluge of 30mm of rain topped the pond up to the shelf on the subsoil level. It may fill even more as the wood is fairly well flooded.