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Hugo was very disappointed that I forgot to take him to our Quiz Night, so I have to make it up to him by letting him man (or heron) our table at the Headley Greening Campaign Launch Meeting. This will be held on Tuesday 18th February at 8pm in the Church Centre, Headley. Here’s the agenda:

1. Introduction by Headley CAN
2. Short contribution from one of our very junior community members
3. An overview of the Greening Campaign, the Five Pillars and free services available by Terena Plowright
4. Q&A
5. Opportunity to look in more detail at each of the five pillars that interest you and meet the Headley CAN Leads:
   • Space For Nature
   • Energy Efficient Warmer Homes
   • Health Impact of Climate change
   • Cycle of the Seed
   • Waste Prevention

Tea/Coffee/Nibbles will be available. Do come along to find out more, and sign up if you want to be involved in the free services, guest lectures and training that is being provided over the next 12 months as part of the Greening Campaign. There are practical things we can all be a part of that are fun and make a real difference.

Hugo is getting very excited. He doesn’t get out much in the winter so he and I are both looking forward to seeing you.

Neville Merritt, Deputy Chairman FVWPA

On Saturday our willing Volunteers gathered again for a morning of wet, muddy, backbreaking activity! Working under the guidance of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, we are maintaining the pond to maximising the ecological benefit. Our task this time was to remove the grass that was growing in the margins and floating in the shallow eastern end of the pond. The roots were trapping silt and over time would have completely covered the water.

The job was a tough one! The grass in the margins was securely rooted in the mud but with dedicated effort from the team, a good quantity was hoisted onto the banks. Following the advice of the Trust, we left the grass and roots on the bank so anything caught up in the raking could scurry back into the water.

The grass in the middle of the water was even more challenging, but we had a plan. With a length of rope and a small grapnel anchor, Glen and Mike worked an impressive hauling operation and cleared a large area of floating weed.

We also found some very interesting artifacts in the pond as you might expect, but more of that later!

When the pond has settled down again we will survey what grass is still remaining. Next time we will know what works best and come armed with not one but two grapnel anchor ropes!

We would like to thank our FVWPA Volunteers who got tired, wet and muddy to help make a difference to the wildlife in and around the pond. To remind us why we were there, a bank vole gave a swimming demonstration, we had fly-bys from dragonflies and a grey wagtail that flew away when we started flew right back when we finished.

One last thing – thank you very much to the kind young lady who dropped by to give us packets of biscuits for our coffee break!

Wishing all our Friends and supporters a spookylicious Halloween! Hugo the Happy Heron is convinced his ghost costume is very convincing. I’m not so sure, there’s a dead giveaway (sorry) that no spooky costume can cover up. Anyway, if you are passing down Arford Road look up and give Hugo a wave!

Saturday marked a very special occasion. The first FVWPA Work Party since the re-launch of the Association assembled at the pond for two hours of Balsam Bashing. Ten volunteers braved the rain, mud and prickly stuff to remove as much of the Himalayan Balsam as possible. This is an invasive species which grows and spreads rapidly, and can blot out native flora.

Fortunately, it is an annual plant and relatively easy to remove by chopping it down before the seed heads form. Unfortunately, due to delays in granting us the HCC Licence to Cultivate we were a bit late and seed heads had formed. Mature seed pods explode dramatically like miniature fireworks when touched, sending seeds in all directions The only way to deal with them was to sneak up when they weren’t looking and pop the seed heads in a plastic sack. By the end of the morning we had filled 12 sacks with seed heads. Some seeds will inevitably have been dropped but at least there are 12 sacksful less than there would have been.

Next year we will be doing another Balsam Bash but earlier in the season, as soon as the pink flowers appear. That way they will have no chance to set seed so the spread of Himalayan Balsam will be greatly reduced.

So, a big Thank You to all the volunteers who helped. We had a lot of chats, got to know each other better and finished the morning with a nice warm glow of satisfaction, knowing that the Fullers Vale pond has Friends again.

Our next Work Party will be rather more strenuous, raking the rogue grass out of the margins to clear the water flow and stop the encroachment of the bank. I have a cunning plan involving a contraption (my daughter’s description) and rope, so watch out for details!