22 Sept. 2016
No invasives
The pond looks much larger without all the invasive species filling it up.
22 Sept. 2016
South slope
You can see the lovely wide path along the south edge of the pond in this photo from David. Now the work begins on replanting that slope down to the water.
19 Sept. 2016
Stay away from the pond
On 19 September, fences and signs appeared all around our pond as major work on our Amphibian Pond started.
19 Sept. 2016
Draining away the water
George W. Drummond Ltd, the company that created the original pond more than 20 years ago, is restoring this habitat by removing most of the invasive species and scooping out the silt that has been slowly filling the pond over time.
19 Sept. 2016
Ready to dig
Quite a shock to see a huge digger rearing up over the trees surrounding the pond. Part of the project includes making a wider, more level trail along the south side of the pond.
19 Sept. 2016
Fascinated by the machines
Diane, who has spent many months steering this project through various levels of bureaucracy, and Connie (pictured here) were on hand from early morning to make sure everything started smoothly. Connie stayed on to watch the machines at work.
19 Sept. 2016
Clearing out cattails
And the machines were certainly fascinating as they picked up great lumps of cattails, flowering rush, and mud, easily setting the mixture down on the south slope.
19 Sept. 2016
Persistent duck
One duck (not sure what species as it was too muddy to tell) decided to tough it out and remain in what was left of the water. Untroubled by the workers and machines, it went about its business, moving from one end of the pond to the other as needed to avoid the chaos.
19 Sept. 2016
Turkey Vulture
And overhead a Turkey Vulture circled slowly.
20 Sept. 2016
Very empty pond
The shovels have scooped out all the invasive Flowering Rush, cattails, Frog's-bit, and Willow Herb.
20 Sept. 2016
Machine and muck
After only one day's work, the shovels are out of the pond and so are several huge piles of muck.
20 Sept. 2016
And more muck
The only good thing that can be said about the muck is that it's covering (and killing) a lot of Dog-strangling Vine.
