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Bishop's Pond
🔪🌿 The next working session at the pond is on $[hdcolor $\brown$\$]Monday 4th August$[/hdcolor$] from $[hdcolor $\brown$\$]2 pm to 4 pm$[/hdcolor$] 🔪🌿
We are watching the forecast for Storm Floris on Monday afternoon and will decide on Monday morning whether to cancel the meeting. At the moment (Sunday evening) the forecast is for gusty winds and the greatest chance of rain is from 2 to 4 pm.
We meet at Bishop's Pond three times per month, on a Monday, a Saturday and a Sunday as listed below, to carry out conservation work. Sessions normally start at 2 p.m. and last two hours. Sometimes a session is cancelled at short notice if the weather conditions or forecast are unsuitable. The traffic light on the left indicates whether the next session will go ahead – $[hdcolor $\green$\$]green$[/hdcolor$] means OK (unless the forecast changes), $[hdcolor $\orange$\$]amber$[/hdcolor$] means we're considering cancellation, and $[hdcolor $\red$\$]red$[/hdcolor$] means the session has been cancelled.
Everyone — including you — is very welcome to come along to help us (no skills are required), or just to find out what we do and have a look round to see how the conservation work at the site is progressing.
August
Monday 4th 2–4 pm
Saturday 16th 2–4 pm
Sunday 24th 2–4 pm
September
Monday 1st 2–4 pm
Saturday 13th 2–4 pm
Sunday 21st 2–4 pm
October
Monday 6th 2–4 pm
Saturday 18th 2–4 pm
Sunday 26th 2–4 pm (Winter time!)
November
Monday 3rd 2–4 pm
Saturday 15th 2–4 pm
Sunday 23rd 2–4 pm
You can find us:
- from Normandy Way: enter Cottage Mews (the pond is then on the left, opposite no. 1 Cottage Mews on the right; there is parking in front of the long wall ahead of you) and go through the gate in the hedge on the left, between the street lamp and the car ports outside no. 12, or
- from Green Lane (on foot or by bike; no access by car): follow the gravel track which branches off just west of the bridge over Sweatford's Water, go through the gate into Cottage Mews and then through the gate in the hedge on the right, after the car ports outside no. 12 and before the street lamp.
If you use your phone or sat-nav to find us, the postcode is SP6 1RJ. If you like What3Words, go to ///fingernails.paving.roughest (which is also a reminder to wear gloves and stout shoes!)
We are required to keep the gate into the Pond area locked for safety reasons, except during working sessions.
News
1 Sep 2025: We have elms!
We finished our tree inventory at today's meeting, and were able to add another tree to our list. We are now fairly sure that the the scrubby stuff which we had previously dismissed as a form of birch is actually elm (Ulmus sp.) It appears that the identification of elms is a complex business, with botanists disagreeing over how many species (and hybrids) there actually are. To give you an idea of the problem, I've downloaded a couple of elm identification guides and added them to our Library.
Although our elms are shrubby growths, clustered around the north-east corner of the pond and apparently suckering, we have found one or two in good locations where they can be encouraged to grow larger. However, we do not expect them to reach the stature of the elms of the English countryside before Dutch Elm Disease decimated them, and they may not be the same species as those.
24 Aug 2025: New tree discovered
During today's working session we decided to carry out a partial inventory of the larger and smaller trees, with a view to planning which ones to look after and which ones need to be removed to make more room for the others. We need to allow light to penetrate to the woodland floor to allow the smaller plants such as the bluebells and other flowers to flourish, not to mention encouraging biodiversity generally.
We were surprised to find a horse-chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) which we hadn't noticed before! Just shows how important it is to do surveys!
19 Jul 2025: Tiger Moths!
A brightly coloured moth flew past one of our members, showing dark wings with cream markings on the forewings and red on the hindwings, so we suspected it to be a Scarlet Tiger moth (Callimorpha dominula). These have been common in the Fordingbridge area and other places on the Hampshire Avon since at least the early 1970's, and have recently become much more widespread in southern Britain. The moth came to rest on holly underneath a hazel bush, and to our surprise turned out to be the closely related and similarly coloured Jersey Tiger moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria).
27 Apr 2025: More bugs and an owl
While pulling sycamore seedlings at the working session this afternoon, we heard blackbirds creating a commotion, then we spotted the Tawny Owl. It was trying to have a good day's sleep, but the blackbirds were trying to keep it awake and scare it away!
07 Apr 2025: Spring has sprung (a leak)
The Pond is empty! With the recent long period of dry sunny weather, nearly all the open water in the Pond has disappeared, even earlier than in previous years.
Further information
- Here is a booklet by Graham Long with details of the history as well as recent activities at the pond
- Bishop's Pond is a Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC). See Status of Bishop's Pond for more details.
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- Newspaper and magazine articles:
- Built a hibernaculum! (from Ringwood and Fordingbridge News, issue 843, 19 October 2022, page 16)
- Fordingbridge Focus Magazine, Sept/Oct 2022, p.34.
- Bishop's Pond full from end to end and is bursting with life (from Ringwood and Fordingbridge News, 17 March 2021, page 6)
- Plans to transform Bishop's Pond: Salisbury Journal, 18 November 2017
- Formation of the current group: Salisbury Journal, 4 August 2009, including a photo with the late Rev. Graham Long and Peter Tullett, founders of the group