Latest Updates

March 8th 2025: Combined swift/bat boxes have been erected in East End Park Langtoft. Just need to attach the solar panel and electronics for the swift callers which will operate for a couple of hours twice a day during the nesting season.

22/08/2024: The tall grass has been cut with hay making complete and the hay bales picked up and used by several villagers. Mick Thwaites has installed 70 meteres of low Cleeve Fencing to provide a division between the children’s playing area and the wildlife area.

02/04/2024: Following one of the wettest winters on record, the pond has been at its fullest for several years.  Water started to appear in late October and gradually rose until it peaked at about 1.5m deep.  The water level will now continue to decrease as we get drier weather and the underlying ground water levels fall.

Stage 1 pollarding of the self-set willows in the pond basin was carried out at the beginning of October. Brash was chipped and removed from site to go for biomass fuel. As part of the improvements to wildlife habitat, the pollarded timber was used to create a log pile and stag beetle pyramid. Various information boards have been placed around the pond to illustrate how these habitats can be created in your own garden (see pictures of the boards below).

New colourful stems have already started to sprout from the pollarded willows. With regular pollarding, a new crown will be formed and the trees will resemble the shorter stubbier willows typically associated with a Fenland landscape. As in this picture taken along the Whittlesey Wash.

As to the wildlife, ducks have been present and newts should be arriving into the pond ready to breed. We also have blue tits in the nest boxes. 

(Thanks to Pete Coles for the update above. Additionally published in the Langtoft Grapevine)

East End Pond April 2024

The volunteer team have put up some information boards to explain features of the site and how they help the wildlife

East End Pond Langtoft – Restoration 

Background

This project is to restore the historically important late 18th century pond which is situated in a public open space in the designated conservation area of Langtoft.
Since 1985, the water levels in the pond have diminished as a result of several factors:

•	Gravel extraction in the surrounding areas leading to a lowering of the seasonal water table.
•	Adjacent housing development in the late 1990’s.  Rainwater that would have contributed to the water table is now channeled away from the site via the sewerage system.
•	The pond has had very little proactive management and the basin now contains many self-set willows.
 
The vision is to retain and improve the seasonal water levels, and improve biodiversity by:

• Staged maintenance of the self-set willows by pollarding to reduce the impact of transpiration on the water levels and allow more light into the pond area. Ivy will be encouraged to grow on the pollard trees providing a much-needed nectar source during winter.
• Removal of dead vegetation from the pond basin thus improving the oxygen levels in the water as well as increasing the seasonal water depth.
• Removing scrub and brambles from the perimeter and sides of the pond and restore/recreate wildflower grasslands by the spreading of green hay.
• Installation of structures that provide environments suitable for birds, mammals and amphibians.