Pond clearance (in preparation for a new lining)
Brookfields School, Tilehurst
25th May 2011

Over the years CROW has attempted on a number of occasions to reduced the quantity of weed in the pond, the main feature of the school's wildlife area, and to control the encroaching bramble. Questions have also been asked about the state of the lining but now there was no doubt, the lining was leaking and what remained of the pond was a solid mass of weed with virtually no open water. The pond was indeed no longer the pond it once was.

It must be admitted this was not the best time of year for the task, there were frogs aplenty and tadpoles too, and we did what we could to rescue as many as possible, these being transferred to a nearby pond at Westwood Farm School. However given the continuing dry weather and the quantity of weed resulting in an ever diminishing volume of water, the prospects for the pond's inhabitants were not good and whilst there were a considerable number of frogs we found little else, for example we rescued very few newts.

As we surveyed the scene on our arrival the prospect was daunting and we wondered how much we would achieve. We had anticipated being helped by a group of company volunteers but they had failed to materialise.