Can you help to restore an historic pond in Froyle which has silted up on Saturday 6th September 10am to 1pm?
We plan to remove about a quarter of the vegetation and silt to benefit the known population of great crested newts as well as other protected species. Currently the pond dries out every summer before amphibians can complete their breeding life cycle. For example, in 2025 there was about 20cm depth of water on 11th April and by 4th May just damp ground. Pete West from HIWARG (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Amphibian and Retile Group) will be overseeing the work.
Recommend appropriate clothing, gloves and footwear for digging and moving silt. Please fetch a spade, fork or ideally a wheelbarrow if you can. School pond (also known locally as Dew pond) was shown on the 1845 tithe map of Froyle. The use of heavy machinery to dig out the silt is not a choice because of the historic habitat and any potential damage.
Please let me know if you can come along (even for just 1h) by contacting info@froylewildlife.co.uk.

Summary of the day.

A group of volunteers made a good start to restore the Dew pond, digging out a quadrant. The silt was more difficult than anticipated to remove because of buried stones. The plan is to monitor the pond over next year to see if water is retained for longer. We could then repeat the digging on another quadrant.

We found buried metal including pieces of iron railing, rusted pipe as well as old broken bottle glass, a modern ring pull and a small rusted iron cleat. Sue from Upper Froyle, metal detected the spoil and found a copper coin. The coin was a worn George second half penny, the date was very difficult to read but is probably 1747. So nearly 280 years old!