Who doesn't love digging silt, soil and sand out of a hillside to create five ponds? It turned out to be a pretty obvious answer as only myself and Simon had the energy to return to finish this mammoth task of establishing a wetland on the hillside where previously there was none.
As hundreds of runners jogged along the public paths and dog walkers used the fields, the general public was and continues to be completely oblivious to the hidden wildlife areas with in Leverhulme Park. Song birds flew around us, woodpeckers had made a home in the decaying tree, frogs and frog spawn lay in our previously created pond, Roe Deer, Badger and Fox showed us their paths and footprints in the soft soil..
Over a week ago we salvaged a flytipped pipe which we used as overflows for the new ponds we created. A simple technique of using the hillside inclination and removed clay, bunding it on the lower level of a planned pond and then ensuring the water flows through the designated pipe at the correct height. We managed to add four new ponds on the hillside and still ensure paths for the Roe Deer are useable while enhancing a five established pond.
At the end of the day we had a welcome visit from Jodie to motivate us on finishing the final part of the task, which was to ensure the ponds water outlet backfilled to the central ponds before backfilling to the river. With two NEWT committee members, we broke a new record in establishing four new ponds, one enhanced established pond and fingers crossed with in two years, they should be teeming with aquatic life.