Today was our annual event to dredge Adel Pond and clear the ditches feeding it. We had a great turn out of nine people helping Steve Joul work in and around the pond – while Judith, Steph, Chris and Tina got on with litterpicking elsewhere in the woods.
We were able to do some dredging work on the pond last October but it was astonishing how much silt had flowed into the pond over the last year. The water flows into the pond on the other side of the tree on the left of the photo above and, as the picture shows, this area of the pond was simply an area of gloopy mud.
Four of us donned waders and dug out mud while two of us transported the mud away to dispose of it.
Rob and David worked on the ditches feeding the pond. A couple of years ago we put a pipe under the bridge leading to the pond. This year it was completely buried in mud but by the end of the morning it was clear again.
Diana and I also cleared a couple of the smaller trees on the edge of the pond so that it would get more light.
It is also amazing how many large logs and rocks we find in the pond each year – this is one of the smaller logs.
James did a fantastic job of digging out this area of the pond. It was interesting to find that underneath the top few inches of very wet mud, the soil underneath was solid and quite dry in appearance.
Friends of Adel Woods 