Fullers Vale Wildlife Pond Association

Established in 2001 to preserve and maintain the Headley Village Pond as a wildlife haven

FVWPA Supports the Headley Greening Campaign!

On Tuesday 18th February, the Headley Greening Campaign will be launched! Headley CAN (Climate Action Network) is a local group with similar environmental objectives to ours. They have won a one-year support programme from the Lottery-funded Greening Campaign. This means for the next year Headley residents can make use of their support.

On Tuesday 18th February at 8pm in the Church Centre, High Street, Headley CAN will be launching the Headley Greening Campaign and introducing their projects for the next 12 months. This will include information about our health in a changing climate, food production and biodiversity, waste prevention and reduced energy use. One service already being rolled out is a free thermal imaging survey of your home to pinpoint areas of heat loss. 

The Greening Campaign is supported by Headley Parish Council and FVWPA because this campaign will bring real benefits to our community, as well as making a valuable contribution to addressing the climate emergency.

I hope you can come along to the meeting to hear more about these projects, ask questions and discuss how you could make use of them.

What you see at night #2

This video was taken from the dashcam of our Treasurer, Cllr. Steve Thair as he was driving down Pond Road recently. It shows a Muntjac deer crossing the road to visit the pond.

Quiz Night 1st February 2025

We have teamed up with Headley Climate Action Network (HeadleyCAN) to run a fundraising quiz night at Headley Village Hall on 1st February.

You can organise a team of six to eight people, and tickets are £15 per person to include a two-course meal. There will also be a cash bar and raffle to add to the entertainment!

To book tickets please contact Liz Pennick by calling her on 01428 717397; WhatApp or call 07549 181915 or email pennicks@btinternet.com

All money raised will be used to support local environmental projects in Headley and Headley Down. We hope to see you there!

Still Water: The Deep Life of the Pond

Book Review

“Still Water: The Deep Life of the Pond” by John Lewis-Stempel

This highly informative little book on ponds is a delight to read. You will discover you are learning and storing all manner of interesting facts as you read this eloquent and sometimes poetic prose. John takes us on a journey through both time and geography, visiting different ponds through the four seasons of the year.

You will find out about the history of ponds, how they were created, what they were used for and what happened to most of them. You will also learn in intricate detail what goes on above, beside, on and under the surface of our ponds.

Having read this book, you will see our own pond in a new light, and with a better understanding of how it fits into our natural environment. You will also learn useful facts like what a baby newt is called, and why moorhens like our pond and coots prefer Frensham!

You can buy a copy of this book using this link: https://amzn.to/4gEJFvZ

Work Party #2: Grass Raking

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!

Greetings from the Boo Crew!

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!

What’s That?

Have you seen something at the pond but you aren’t sure what it is? We have a number of guides on our Resources Page which are links to our favourite websites and apps for butterflies, moths, birds, plants and dragonflies.

The picture above is (we think) a Light Crimson Underwing moth which is very similar to its Dark Crimson cousin. Their caterpillars feed only on oak tree leaves, which are around the pond in abundance. This specimen probably keeps turning left because something has taken a chunk out of its wing. That doesn’t seem to have affected its appetite though.

Our First Balsam Bash!

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!

Good News!

What an amazing week we have had! The previous week we had received the brilliant news that following the intervention of Cllr. Debbie Curnow-Ford, Hampshire County Council Highways have granted us a Licence To Cultivate. This means we finally have permission to maintain the pond margins. As a result, on Monday we were able to hold our “Re-launch” of Fullers Vale Wildlife Pond Association (see our History page for the original story).

We had a great turnout from local supporters, including some of the founding members of FVWPA. Jo Smith gave a fascinating talk on the history of the pond and Neville Merritt brought everyone up to date with the latest news, the visit from Hampshire & IoW Wildlife Trust and our plans for work parties. We were able to sign up more Friends and Volunteers, and we had some very generous donations which has enabled us to organise insurance for the work parties. Our heron Happy Hugo was joined for the occasion by a mallard hand-carved by Jo’s father.

On Thursday, we were invited to the Headley Society for the “Tell Us In Ten” where Hugo and Neville gave short talk on the work of FVWPA. We were able to sign up more Friends and received more generous donations, so we really feel we have properly started again!

Finally, on Saturday we met at the pond itself with Cllr. Debbie Curnow-Ford and Cllr. Anthony Williams to celebrate the breakthrough that allows us access to the pond. We took photos, introduced Hugo to Cllr. Curnow-Ford and had a tour of the planned work. On reflection, that represented all the tiers of Local Government: County, District, Parish and Community!

Cllr. Debbie Curnow-Ford said “I am so pleased, that following my intervention, Hampshire County Council have reviewed their decision and have now granted a Cultivation License to Headley Parish Council allowing FVWPA to manage the vegetation and banks of the pond.  This is a great example of residents’ action getting the right outcome. The County Council have confirmed that they will be helping FVWPA with excavation work next year. I will be monitoring this!”

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