"August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know." - Tove Jansson

Red Admiral butterfly on a Buddleja (Butterfly Bush) at Morston Pond (c) Richard Longley

Following a well-deserved break from S.W.A.M.P. activities while our members were resting from their fund-raising efforts for Friends of Morston Church the previous weekend, the team gathered again for a continuation of their Crassula removing endeavours.

The eastern (road) side of the pond still holds water and Crassula

Excavated Crassula piled up to dry (to be bagged and removed at a later date)

Our spring-fed pond still holds enough water for biodiversity to thrive.

The Rowan Tree is thriving.

The scraped pond bed from the north side.

Tools of the trade.

An ideal place to dry out your soggy gloves.

View from the trees (west side).

The S.W.A.M.P. team working on the roadside.

Despite the scraping, Crassula remains a blight on our pond bed.

Even though we have been diligently removing Crassula (by hand and by machine) the plant is so difficult to eradicate. In the above image you can see how it continues to root and without steady maintenance and attention it will return to suffocate the pond. This is why the S.W.A.M.P. project is vital to ensure that we restore it to it's natural beauty so that biodiversity can continue to flourish ...