High and dry

The recently rebuilt island in the pond on Ham Common is looking very high and dry at the moment, the vegetation around the edge has died and it looks as though it sits too high in the water for the wildlife to access it easily.

I hope that the problem is just a result of the unusual rainfall pattern this year and that it looks in better health next year.

Barren island

I have not seen anyone working on the island in the pond on Ham Common for a while but I hope that more work is planned as it is looking very barren at the moment just as the vegetation around the pond is welcoming Spring.

Reinforcing the island

The ambition of the Ham Pond island restoration project is shown by the substantial metalwork installed to define the new extent of the island. It looks like a modest enlargement but the main point will be to provide some sort of permanence.

Working on Ham Pond

This is an early Work In Progress picture of Ham Ponds where all that has been done so far is some coppicing of the trees on the island.

The workers are dressed in black so are well disguised and the coppicing is not that obvious yet but I will be back over the next few weeks when I hope that the signs of the much overdue work will be more obvious.

More hedge

The low fence around Ham Pond has been reinforced with the addition of a hedge. I am sure that there are reasons for this but I am struggling to see what they are.

Please do not climb over the fences

The damage caused by people climbing over the fences here is deemed sufficient to warrant a bright red sign. I am not going to argue against that but I wish that other more harmful activities were also discouraged, particularly feeding the birds with inappropriate food (bread) and letting dogs run loose.

Maintaining Ham Pond

Ham Pond needs some regular tender loving care to keep it and its occupants happy and at this time of the year that means cutting some things back.

 

How much cutting back has been done can be seen from this pile of prunings.

Wild island

The little island in Ham Pond has changed over the years through both natural and human forces and at times it has looked quite barren, as in this example from 2014. This spring it is the opposite with a covering of thick vegetation. It is a healthier look.

Lots and lots of pigeons

This is one of the willow trees by Ham Pond and the hordes of pigeons are attracted by the food brought by people for the ducks and other waterfowl. This excessive and inappropriate feeding changes the character of the area and is not welcome.

New fence at Ham Pond

The clean cuts of the stakes reveal that this is a new structure at Ham Pond. The intention, I believe, is for this to become a living hedge, that is one that is trained to create a more natural barrier than a traditional fence, like the one in front of it.

It will be interesting to see how this develops and I hope it does better than the one created in Great South Avenue by Grey Court School some years ago.

Winter Pond

Of course Ham Pond looks its best in Summer but it can also be appreciated in Winter when the absence of vegetation reveals more of its shape and structure.

Green pond

The duck weed has hit Ham Pond with a vengeance. At first only this end of the pond was covered and the birds swam at the far end. Now the pond is covered and the birds are nowhere to be seen.

Reeds on Ham Pond

I would prefer there to be more vegetation around Ham Pond to provide more shelter and cover for the wildlife but from the right angle the pond can put up an impressive front.

Winter sun on Ham Pond

I walk passed and around Ham Pond a lot, several times a week, and while it is undeniably interesting it is not always that attractive with areas of muddy grass and other areas where the vegetation is a little sparse for my liking. I had no such reservations this Winter evening as I caught the pond basking in the clear sunlight that, when it appears, makes this time of year so pleasing.

The Ham Pond turtle is still there

I had been a little worries about the Ham Pond turtle. I had not seen it for a while and the last time that I took a photograph of it, in 2012, it was basking on a rock that had since been removed or submerged. So I was very pleased to see it on the little island again enjoying the sun.

Four cygnets

It was my intention to say nothing about this year's cygnets as I prefer buildings to animals but in the end I could resist it no more, having walked past their nest at least once a day for what seemed like several weeks while waiting for them to emerge from their eggs.

There were six eggs from which four cygnets sprung. The other two eggs were abandoned. I was surprised that they did so well as in the early days it looked as no attention was being paid to the first eggs and I even though that they were building a second nest at one point.

But all's well that ends well and the new cygnets are getting much attention, to which they are completely oblivious.

Waiting for the eggs to hatch

The swans on Ham Pond seem to have been guarding their eggs for ever and my frequent visits to the nest hoping for cygnets, I go normally at least twice a day, have so far been without success. During the wait the best that I can do is show a picture of the eggs and one of the swans attending to its feathers.

Ham Pond (Summer 2014)

I have taken lots of photos of Ham Pond over the years but a couple more will not hurt as it is a little different each time I pass by and it is always pretty.

This time the area around the pond was looking especially green and healthy. It had not been a particularly wet Summer but it had not been that dry either and the vegetarian had done well in those conditions.

Swans on Ham Pond (2014)

I was not planning on posting any pictures of the swans this year as I have shown them many times before and many other people take photographs of them but I keep walking across Ham Common and that usually means that I go near the Pond and that means that I take some photos there and that means that there are swans in some of them.

The compromise that I have reached with myself is to post just a few photos from this year and to put them all together. The first of these photos was taken in May and the last in August. The cygnets grew a lot in that time.

One of the nice milestones each year is when the swans become confident enough to take their young brood on to the grass. There were still six cygnets in mid-June but there are now five.

In early August the cygnets are almost the same size as their parents, only their colour gives them away.

High water on Ham Pond

The recently extended island in Ham Pond is suffering in the wettest recorded Winter that we have had. The banks and the posts there to protect them are now submerged and the nesting sites that the island was meant to provide have been lost.

I presume that the water will drain away before too long and it will be interesting to see what state the island is in when it does.