Childrey Pond Restoration

To return the Childrey Village pond to a beautiful and wildlife rich asset for the village.

A pond of some description has been present in Childrey for 100s of years. In 2006 the pond benefited from a grant to regenerate a biodiverse habitat. The result was an excellent asset particularly suitable for amphibians and insects such as dragon and damselflies. Over the years the pond has matured and up until 2019 continued to be a well balanced habitat. However in recent years the pond has dried out frequently reducing the available water surface area significantly. The reduction in the quality of the pond habitat is also reducing the opportunities for the support of wildlife, the very reason for its original conversion into a wildlife pond. For example wildfowl, such as moorhens do not nest in the reeds anymore as they are not protected by the water in the pond.
Having a restored pond will bring a great deal of pleasure to many and importantly rejuvenate the biodiversity supported by the pond and maximising the periods when the pond holds water will increase the biodiversity. Dragonflies and damselflies need the pond to retain some water at all times. And keeping the water at a level to provide protection for wildfowl in the spring.

This project is to clear some of the vegetation to find out whether the vegetative growth is causing the reduction in water.